CS447T: Algorithms for Computational Biology

See the Home Page for this semester's details.
Department of Computer Science
School of Engineering and Applied Science
Washington University in St. Louis

Course Description

The computer scientist interacts increasingly with the biologist, as computation plays an ever increasing role in how biologists view, formulate, and solve problems in molecular biology. In this course we examine algorithms relevant to studies in molecular biology. Topics include DNA sequence comparison, protein modeling, DNA fragment assembly, and construction of evolutionary trees. For each area of study, we first summarize the relevant biological background; we then study algorithms in computer science that are appropriate for application in the given area. We study both the complexity of such algorithms as well as their effectiveness in solving real problems in molecular biology. While the course will not necessarily require programming, an optional programming project will be allowed in lieu of other course work.

Prerequisites

CS 241 or equivalent

Intro For Students

This manual is intended to help you in two ways:
  1. as a central, on-line source for information regarding the course itself;
  2. as a study guide for learning the concepts taught in the course.
The CS447 Home Page provides you with links for both types of information.

A lot of work has gone into making the manual helpful for you. Our goal has been to bring a well-organized and accurate web of data on-line. However, heed two warnings:

  1. Any course information in this manual is overruled by handouts, announcements in class, or email;
  2. Let the student beware: subject information may have been provided by students, not professors. So don't view it as gospel. See the manual disclaimer!
Please email your grader to report any errors you find or make suggestions. Contributions of pages are also very welcome. We want this manual to be as helpful to you as possible.

Last modified 10:32:30 CDT 03 September 1997 by Ron K. Cytron