The request to update the Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics undergraduate curriculum

Date: May 3, 2011
To: College of Computing & Informatics
From: Clarence Greene, Faculty Governance Administrative Assistant
Approved On: April 19, 2011
Implementation Date: 2011

Note: Deletions are strikethroughs. Insertions are underlined.

Catalog Copy

BIOINFORMATICS

Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics

Bioinformatics Building, Room 309
704-687-8541
http://bioinformatics.uncc.edu/

Program Chair

Dr. Lawrence Mays

Undergraduate Faculty
  • Cory Brouwer, Associate Professor
  • Xiuxia Du, Assistant Professor
  • Anthony Fodor, Assistant Professor
  • Cynthia Gibas, Associate Professor
  • Jun-tao Guo, Assistant Professor
  • Dennis Livesay, Associate Professor
  • Ann Loraine, Associate Professor
  • Lawrence Mays, Professor
  • Jessica Schlueter, Assistant Professor
  • Shannon Schlueter, Assistant Professor
  • Susan Sell, Professor
  • ZhengChang Su, Assistant Professor
  • Jennifer Weller, Associate Professor

Adjunct Faculty

Marjorie Benbow

Minor in BIOINFORMATICS and GENOMICS

Designed to introduce students to the collection, informatics analysis and interpretation of data derived from genomic and biological macromolecular investigations, this minor field of study will provide students with a foundation of understanding and the computing skill necessary to communicate in the increasingly data-centric life sciences. In addition to gaining first-hand experience with current technologies for high-throughput data generation, students will receive training in up-to-date methods for data handling and interpretation while developing an understanding of critical issues in bioinformatics research design, statistical data analysis, and the application of genomics domain knowledge.

Program requirements:

The minor in Bioinformatics and Genomics requires 19 credit hours consisting of the following required courses.

  • BINF 1101: Introduction to Bioinformatics and Genomics
  • BINF 2101: Genomic Methods
  • BINF 2101L: Genomic Methods Lab
  • BINF 2111: Introduction to Bioinformatics Computing
  • BINF 2121: Statistics for Bioinformatics
  • BINF 3101: Sequence Analysis
  • BINF 4600: Bioinformatics Seminar

BINF 1101 Introduction to Bioinformatics and Genomics (3). Designed to introduce students to the genomics perspective in the life sciences, this course combines a general introduction to genomic technologies and the bioinformatics methods used to analyze genome-scale data with a presentation of real world scientific problems where these technologies are having an impact. This course fulfills a general education science requirement. (Fall)

BINF 1101L Introduction to Bioinformatics and Genomics Lab (1). Prerequisite or corequisite: BINF 1101. Designed to introduce students to the genomics perspective in the life sciences, this course provides hands-on experience with biological sequence and structure databases, using small-scale projects to introduce students to the world of Bioinformatics research. One three-hour laboratory per week (Fall)

BINF 2101 Genomic Methods (3)Prerequisite: BIOL 1101 and 1101L [Principles of Biology I with Lab] or BIOL 2120 [General Biology I] or consent of instructor. Prerequisite or Corequisite: BINF 1101 [Introduction to Bioinformatics]; Corequisite: BINF2101L; Lecture topics are intended to introduce students to core concepts in genomics that allow bench scientists to acquire large datasets in a high-throughput manner as well as address the computational methods used to analyze these data resources. (Spring)

BINF 2101L Genomic Methods Lab (2)Corequisite: BINF 2101 [Genomic Methods]; This is the laboratory component of the genomics methods laboratory course. Labs are intended to give students hands-on experience in setting up and performing experiments with an emphasis on nucleic acid and protein profiling, understanding and trouble-shooting published protocols, interpreting the data using computational tools. (Spring)

BINF 2111 Introduction to Bioinformatics Computing (4)Prerequisite or Corequisite: BINF 1101 [Introduction to Bioinformatics and Genomics]. This course introduces fundamentals of programming for bioinformatics (sometimes called “scripting”) using current programming languages and paradigms. This class will introduce both the language and the use of the language within a Unix environment, demonstrating how interpreted languages serve both as a useful tool for writing and testing programs interactively and as a powerful data analysis and processing tool for bioinformatics. (Fall)

BINF 2121 Statistics for Bioinformatics (3)Prerequisite or Corequisite: BINF 1101 [Introduction to Bioinformatics and Genomics]. Prerequisite: Satisfactory completion of either MATH 1103, MATH 1120, MATH 1121, MATH 1241, STAT 1220, STAT 1221, STAT 2122 or permission of instructor based on sufficient demonstration of foundational mathematics concepts. Concepts from probability, stochastic processes, information theory, and other statistical methods will be introduced and illustrated by examples from molecular biology, genomics and population genetics while exploring the use of the R and Bioconductor software for biostatistical analysis. (Spring)

BINF 3101 Sequence Analysis (3)Prerequisite or corequisite: BINF 2101 and BINF2101L [Genomics Methods and Genomic Methods Lab] or consent of instructor. This course covers the purpose, application, and biological significance of bioinformatics methods that identify sequence similarity, methods that rely on sequence similarity to produce models of biological processes and systems, as well as methods that use sequence characteristics to predict functional features in genomic sequence data. (Fall)

BINF 3111 Bioinformatics Algorithms (4) Prerequisite: ITCS 1212L [Programming I] or equivalent programming experience. Prerequisite or corequisite: BINF 3101 [Sequence Analysis]. This course introduces common algorithms and data structures used in Bioinformatics and Genomics. Consideration is given to the optimization and appropriate use of both through guided computational laboratory exercises. (Spring)

BINF 3211 Bioinformatics Databases and Data Mining Technologies (3)Prerequisite: BINF 1101 [Introduction to Bioinformatics and Genomics]. This is a lecture course that incorporates extensive computational exercises, some of which will be done in class. Lecture topics are intended to introduce students to core concepts in both database management system theory and implementation and in data modeling for genomics data types. Exercises are intended to give students practical experience in setting up and populating a database, using public data repositories and using standard tools for retrieving data (SQL), and further, using existing tools for data mining and visualization of genomics data types. Emphasis will be placed on standards and emerging practices. (Spring)

BINF 3900 Undergraduate Research (1-3).Prerequisites: BINF 1101 [Introduction to Bioinformatics and Genomics] and Permission of the instructor. Enables students in the Bioinformatics and Genomics program to initiate research projects in their respective fields of interest and to interact with faculty in pursuing research experience. May be repeated for credit. (Fall, Spring, Summer)

BINF 4101 Computational Systems Biology (3)Prerequisite: BINF 3101 [Sequence Analysis]. This course will cover the process of reconstructing complex biological networks. Reconstruction of metabolic networks, regulatory networks and signaling networks using bottom-up and top-down approaches will be addressed using collections of historical data as well as departmentally generated data. The principles underlying high-throughput experimental technologies and examples given on how this data is used for network reconstruction, consistency checking, and validation will be covered throughout the semester. (On demand)

BINF 4111 Structural Bioinformatics (3)Prerequisite: BINF 3101 [Sequence Analysis]. This course will cover: (i.) the physical forces that shape biological molecules, assemblies and cells; (ii.) overview of protein and nucleic acid structure; (iii.) experimental methods of structure determination; (iv.) data formats and software for structure visualization; (v.) computational methods to evaluate structure; (vi.) structural classification; (vii.) structure alignment; (viii.) computational algorithms for structure prediction; and (ix.) structural analysis of disease causing mutations. (Spring)

BINF4201. Introduction to Bioinformatics. (4)Prerequisites: BIOL 2120 and BIOL 2130 or equivalent. Introduction to biological databases, commonly-used bioinformatics software for molecular sequence and structure analysis, and application of bioinformatics analysis in biological research. (Fall)

BINF 44650. Senior Project. (3) Prerequisites: senior standing and permission of the department. An individual or group project in the teaching, theory, or application of bioinformatics, genomics, or computational biology under the direction of a faculty member. Projects must be approved by the department before they can be initiated. (On demand)

BINF 4600 Bioinformatics and Genomics Seminar (1)Prerequisite: BINF 3101 [Sequence Analysis] or consent of instructor. This course is a senior level seminar course designed to introduce students to the research being conducted in both the Bioinformatics and Genomics Department here at UNC Charlotte as well as through invited speakers from other universities. (Fall, Spring