BS7002 - Informational Biology

Course Coordinator: Associate Professor Konstantin PERVUSHIN (email: [email protected])

Availability: Semester 1

This  course  consists  of  lectures,  data  analysis  and  group  discussion/ presentation sessions. During lecture hours, basic concepts in informational biology are introduced and skills necessary to solve practical problems in mechanistic description  of  biological  processes  are  developed. 

Topics covered include computational tools in bioinformatics, biological databases, structural  prediction  of  proteins,  biophysical  principle  of  biomolecular assembly, and  enzymatic  mechanisms.  Students  will  also  learn  how  to enhance  their  own  research  through  the  use  of  publicly  available  bio-information databases and freely accessible software. Selected questions/ topics  (e.g. origin  of  the  SARS-CoV-2  virus,  problems  of  chromatin functioning,  carbon  fixation  challenge  etc.)  will  be  discussed  in  in-class sessions.

As part of continued assessment students are required to submit in  class  activities reports  which  are  the  basis  for  the  course  grading. Literature search and analysis of research publications are required before making individual reports. No final examination is provisioned. The course ends  with  a  round table  session  revising  and  integrating  all  skills  and knowledge  acquired  as  well  as  students’  reflections  on  how  the  taught material can be effectively used in their own research.