This introductory-level course will examine genes and genomes from both biological and informatic perspectives. No biology background will be assumed. We will start with the fundamentals of genetics, from the historical development of the concept of the gene as a unit of function and transmission, to the identification of DNA as the hereditary molecule, to the molecular analysis of genes and gene function. We will then proceed to a bioinformatic perspective, considering not only how huge amounts of data, such as DNA and protein sequences, gene and chromosome maps, and protein structures and expression profiles, are being generated, but how they are being stored, organized, made available, analyzed, and integrated. Some discussion of ELSI, the ethical, legal, and social issues surrounding the Genome Project, will be included. |