General Information
| Lecturer | Prof. Dr. Markus List |
| SWS | 2 SWS (6 ECTS) |
| Language | German |
| Turnus | Wintersemester |
| Registration | TUMonline & Moodle |
| Exam | Written exam |
Content
Bioinformatics is more than just the sum of biology and computer science. The introduction to bioinformatics focuses on the essential basics that connect both disciplines and are prerequisites for understanding the analysis of biological data. Bioinformaticians must understand biological principles, be familiar with the methods for generating biological data, master algorithms for analyzing biological data, and be able to interpret results.
Specifically, we have the following objectives in this course:
- To articulate the tasks and goals of bioinformatics.
- To name databases and platforms that provide various types of molecular data.
- To describe the basic principles of molecular biology.
- To describe basic statistical concepts, explain and apply common statistical tests, and recognize the conditions for their applicability.
- To explain techniques for obtaining molecular data through DNA sequencing and to highlight their possibilities and limitations.
- To define the term algorithm, outline various types of algorithms, and estimate their runtime requirements.
- To explain methods and data structures for handling typical bioinformatics data such as sequence data, to be able to apply them, and to select the appropriate method for a problem.
Exercise
At the beginning of the semester, you will be assigned to a group of 3-5 students. Each week, you will have the opportunity to earn a total of 10 points by completing the exercise sheet and taking an online Moodle quiz. The distribution of points may vary from week to week, but it will always total 10 points. While the quiz is always completed individually, the exercise sheets are worked on in the assigned group. As a group, you upload one solution sheet per week. At the end of the semester, we calculate the total points for each student.
If you achieve 70% of the total points, you will receive a bonus of 0.3 points on your final grade.
The exercise session itself takes place in person, and you will be divided into expert groups. For this purpose, the topic discussed in the previous lecture is divided into blocks. The students of the exercise group form as many expert groups as there are blocks. With the help of provided materials and slides, the contents of the topic block are worked through. During this time, a tutor is available to answer questions. Subsequently, groups of students come together, each including at least one expert per topic block. Now, each expert presents their topic block to their fellow students. Any questions that arise can again be answered by the tutor on-site. Finally, an expert presents their topic block to the entire exercise group.