Introduction to Biological Data Resources and Bioinformatics

The lectures and mini-project described on this page are part of the course on "Data acquisition and handling in systems biology", which is one of the courses in the Göteborg University Science Masters Programme in Systems Biology.

Aims

• to introduce some bioinformatics data resources;
• to introduce sequence bioinformatics and alignment algorithms;
• to introduce protein structure and structural bioinformatics.

Objectives

After this part of the course you will:

• be aware of some bioinformatics data resources that are relevant to systems biology;
• understand how sequence alignment is performed;
• know how protein structure can be described at different levels;
• be aware of some of the challenges in structural bioinformatics.

Personnel

• Peter Gennemark
• Graham Kemp

Schedule

Mini-Project

Your task is to investigate some bioinformatics data resources that are relevant to systems biology, and then give a short presentation on these. You should investigate at three (or more) data resources in one of the areas listed below. In reviewing these resources, questions to consider include:

• What is the scope of the resource (which molecules, species, etc.)?
• What kinds of analysis can be performed?
• What form do the results take (pictures, tables, formatted data, etc.)?
• What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of the resources that you have investigated?

Topics:

• Protein-Protein Interactions: DIP, BIND and at least one other
• Metabolic Pathways: KEGG, BRENDA and at least one other
• Signaling Pathways: CST, STKE and at least one other

These data resources, and many others, can be accessed from the Pathway Resource List.

This mini-project may be done in pairs. Your presentation should last no longer than 15 minutes.