Classes:
Tue+Thu, 14:00-15:30
in DMP 301
First class: Thu, 2016/01/05
Instructor:
Holger H. Hoos
E-mail: hoos "at" cs.ubc.ca
Teaching Assistant:
Robbie Rolin (rolin "at" cs.ubc.ca)
Office hours: Mon, 12:00-13:00 in ICCS X237
About this course:
Bioinformatics involves the application of computational methods to answer or provide insight on questions in molecular biology. This course provides an introduction to the design and analysis of algorithms for bioinformatics applications. Topics covered will include sequence alignment, phylogenetic tree reconstruction (parsimony and distance-based methods), prediction of RNA and protein structure, gene finding, and motif finding. Algorithmic techniques that will be discussed include dynamic programming and heuristic search methods, as well as combinatorial algorithms for exploration of graphs and trees. Statistical models of molecular sequence and structure, such as hidden Markov models and stochastic context free grammars, and associated algorithms, will also be covered.
Prerequisites:
CPSC 320 and six credits of BIOL beyond BIOL 111, or equivalent. Experience with design and analysis of algorithms is essential for this course. The additional reading listed below, such as ``Molecular Biology of the Cell'', will be useful for those who need to catch up on biological background. The algorithms texts by Cormen et al. and Kleinberg and Tardos provide useful background on combinatorial algorithms, including graph algorithms and dynamic programming algorithms. The book by Hoos and St\"{u}tzle is a more advanced text which provides very useful background on local search techniques.
Textbook:
Durbin, Eddy, Krogh, Mitchison: Biological Sequence Analysis. Cambridge University Press, 1998
We will be using Piazza for class-related discussions. The system is highly catered to getting you help fast and efficiently from classmates, the TA and myself. Rather than e-mailing questions to the teaching staff, I encourage you to post your questions on Piazza. If you have any problems or feedback for the developers, e-mail team@piazza.com. Find our class page at https://piazza.com/ubc.ca/winterterm22015/cpsc445/home
Please note that we intend to use Piazza only for discussions. Homework assignments and other important information will be posted on the UBC course homepage at http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~hoos/cpsc445/.
Missed Course Work and Academic Misconduct:
Reading: