CMSC701: Computational Genomics (Fall 2014)

Essential details

Time: Tuesday & Thursday, 9:30-10:45am
Location: CSIC 3120
Instructor: Mihai Pop (mpop at umiacs) x5-7245
Office hours: by appointment
Office address: 3120F Biomolecular Sciences Building (bldg #296).
Building is usually locked. Call me from the intercom and I'll buzz you in.
3223 AVW (by appointment)


Schedule/Syllabus

Description

This course covers a range of string matching/sequence alignment topics with a focus on biological applications. In addition to a survey of several classical algorithms in string matching and alignment, a major focus will be placed on recent advances in this field, including space-efficient indices (e.g. extensions of the Burrows-Wheeler transform) and parallel string-matching algorithms.

While the focus of the course is on biological applications, the algorithms and techniques described in the course have broader application in other areas of CS (including NLP, software engineering, and security).

Prerequisites

This course is intended for graduate students with a strong background in algorithms and data-structures. Programming expertise is a must. No background in biology is required. If you are uncertain about meeting these requirements please contact me.

Textbooks

There are no required textbooks for this course. Lecture notes are here:

Pop. Computational Genomics Lecture Notes

Some of the material covered can be found in the following two books.

Gusfield. Algorithms on strings, trees, and sequences.
Durbin, Eddy, Krogh, Mitchison. Biological sequence analysis.

Course topics

The course will cover the following main areas.

Coursework and grading

Regular homework assignments will consist of a combination of one or more of the following: (i) exercises from one of the textbooks; (ii) small programming assignments; (iii) "discovery" exercises using publicly available bioinformatics tools. In addition, all students must complete a programming project, chosen by the students in consultation with the instructor.

The final grades will be a combination of the grades for the homework, project, and mid-term and final exams. In addition, participation in the class will be taken into account for extra credit. The breakdown of you final grade is shown below.

Homework - 10 %
Project - 30 %
Midterm - 25%
Final - 35%

Assignments submitted late will be graded as follows: up to 1 day late - 10 points will be deducted from the grade, up to 2 days late - 20 points will be deducted. Your assignment will not be graded beyond the second day past the deadline. If for reasons outside your control you will not be able to submit an assignment on time, see me as soon as possible to discuss an alternate deadline.

Class communication

We will use Piazza for this class.  More information about homeworks as well as discussions about the class material will take place on our Piazza page

Attendance policy

This course follows the University's attendance policy. In short, if you will miss class for any reason you should let me know in advance, unless this is not possible (e.g. sudden illness). In any case, please let me know as soon as you are aware that will not be able to attend a class (e-mail is OK). I will work with you to help you catch up on homework or exams if you have to miss any of the lectures.

Academic integrity

I expect that the students taking this class fully adhere to the Code of Academic Integrity. Please read this document in full if you have not already done so. In addition, the University suggests that you sign the Honor Pledge on every examination you turn in. Please read the relevant excerpt from the Code of Academic Integrity (reproduced below).

Honor Pledge