This course will provide an overview of Computational Biology, the application of Computer Science problem-solving techniques to interpret the rapidly expanding amount of biological data. Topics covered will include database searching, DNA sequence alignment, phylogeny reconstruction, protein structure prediction, microarray analysis, and genome assembly using techniques such as string matching, dynamic programming, suffix trees, hidden Markov models, and expectation-maximization. Format: lecture, three hours per week; laboratory, 1.5 hours per week. Evaluation will be based on weekly problem sets, programming assignments, a midterm exam and a final exam, all of which have a significant quantitative or formal reasoning component. Prerequisites: Computer Science 136 or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limit: 30 (expected: 20).

Hour: WYMAN