HOWARD UNIVERSITY

W. Montague Cobb Research Lab

Bioinformatics
Course Syllabus Summer 2016
GENERAL COURSE INFORMATION:

Summer Boot Camp Course at Howard University Bioinformatics

Tuesday June 14, 2016; 8:30am 5:30pm
2400 Sixth St NW, Washington, DC 20059 Room: TBD
COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The increasing size of privately held and publicly available data sets has
revolutionized the methods needed to sort, filter, arrange and interpret biological
information. Bioinformatics is the application of computational technology to the
management of biological information. This course is designed to provide
students with the opportunity to learn about the common informatics tools for
population biology and biomedical science. Topics will include: informatics
approaches for data, phylogenetics, alignment, basic data structures, machine
learning, and biomedical systems biology.
PREREQUISITES:

No prerequisites are needed for this course.

INSTRUCTOR INFO:

Dr. Latifa Jackson

National Human Genome Center
Howard University College of Medicine
Email: Latifa.jackson@howard.edu
METHOD OF INSTRUCTION:

This course will be taught using lectures, PowerPoints, videos and open
discussion.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:

1. Be able to discuss and explain what bioinformatics is and how it is used in

the fields of population biology and health.
2. Understand the common population biology and biomedical informatics
approaches and terminology used in studies that are presented in the
popular press and health related journals.

HOWARD UNIVERSITY
3. Identify which types of programs and computational languages are
appropriate for which kinds of data sets.
4. Gain experience using computer technology to analyze data sets including
sequence alignment, phylogenetic tree building, population structure
analysis, and building custom tracks on UCSC Genome Browser.
GRADING

There will be a quiz administered at the end of class, grading is as follows:

100 90 = A
89 80 = B
79 70 = C
69 60 = D
59 and below = F

CLASSROOM CONDUCT:

Students are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that is conducive to

learning. Electronic devices are potential distractions in the classroom
environment. Cell phones, pagers and other handheld devices must be turned off
or set to "silent" mode and not used while class is in session. Laptop computers
and similar devices will be required for use related to classroom activities.