Suitable for advanced undergraduates & postgraduates, this book provides a definitive guide to bioinformatics. It takes a conceptual approach & guides the reader from first principles through to an understanding of the computational techniques & the key algorithms.
Bioinformatics is an integrative field of computer science, genetics, genomics, proteomics, and statistics, which has undoubtedly revolutionized the study of biology and medicine in past decades. It mainly assists in modeling, predicting and interpreting large multidimensional biological data by utilizing advanced computational methods. Despite its enormous potential, bioinformatics is not widely integrated into the academic curriculum as most life science students and researchers are still not equipped with the necessary knowledge to take advantage of this powerful tool. Hence, the primary purpose of our book is to supplement this unmet need by providing an easily accessible platform for students and researchers starting their career in life sciences. This book aims to avoid sophisticated computational algorithms and programming. Instead, it mostly focuses on simple DIY analysis and interpretation of biological data with personal computers. Our belief is that once the beginners acquire these basic skillsets, they will be able to handle most of the bioinformatics tools for their research work and to better understand their experimental outcomes. Unlike other bioinformatics books which are mostly theoretical, this book provides practical examples for the readers on state-of-the-art open source tools to solve biological problems. Flow charts of experiments, graphical illustrations, and mock data are included for quick reference. Volume I is therefore an ideal companion for students and early stage professionals wishing to master this blooming field.
Over 500 prokaryotic genomes have been sequenced to date, and thousands more have been planned for the next few years. While these genomic sequence data provide unprecedented opportunities for biologists to study the world of prokaryotes, they also raise extremely challenging issues such as how to decode the rich information encoded in these genomes. This comprehensive volume includes a collection of cohesively written chapters on prokaryotic genomes, their organization and evolution, the information they encode, and the computational approaches needed to derive such information. A comparative view of bacterial and archaeal genomes, and how information is encoded differently in them, is also presented. Combining theoretical discussions and computational techniques, the book serves as a valuable introductory textbook for graduate-level microbial genomics and informatics courses.
Bioinformatics Algorithms: an Active Learning Approach is one of the first textbooks to emerge from the recent Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) revolution. A light-hearted and analogy-filled companion to the authors' acclaimed online course (http://coursera.org/course/bioinformatics), this book presents students with a dynamic approach to learning bioinformatics. It strikes a unique balance between practical challenges in modern biology and fundamental algorithmic ideas, thus capturing the interest of students of biology and computer science students alike.Each chapter begins with a central biological question, such as "Are There Fragile Regions in the Human Genome?" or "Which DNA Patterns Play the Role of Molecular Clocks?" and then steadily develops the algorithmic sophistication required to answer this question. Hundreds of exercises are incorporated directly into the text as soon as they are needed; readers can test their knowledge through automated coding challenges on Rosalind (http://rosalind.info), an online platform for learning bioinformatics.The textbook website (http://bioinformaticsalgorithms.org) directs readers toward additional educational materials, including video lectures and PowerPoint slides.
Essential Bioinformatics is a concise yet comprehensive textbook of bioinformatics, which provides a broad introduction to the entire field. Written specifically for a life science audience, the basics of bioinformatics are explained, followed by discussions of the state-of-the-art computational tools available to solve biological research problems. All key areas of bioinformatics are covered including biological databases, sequence alignment, genes and promoter prediction, molecular phylogenetics, structural bioinformatics, genomics and proteomics. The book emphasizes how computational methods work and compares the strengths and weaknesses of different methods. This balanced yet easily accessible text will be invaluable to students who do not have sophisticated computational backgrounds. Technical details of computational algorithms are explained with a minimum use of mathematical formulae; graphical illustrations are used in their place to aid understanding. The effective synthesis of existing literature as well as in-depth and up-to-date coverage of all key topics in bioinformatics make this an ideal textbook for all bioinformatics courses taken by life science students and for researchers wishing to develop their knowledge of bioinformatics to facilitate their own research.
This book is a comprehensive guide to all of the mathematics, statistics and computing you will need to successfully operate DNA microarray experiments. It is written for researchers, clinicians, laboratory heads and managers, from both biology and bioinformatics backgrounds, who work with, or who intend to work with microarrays. The book covers all aspects of microarray bioinformatics, giving you the tools to design arrays and experiments, to analyze your data, and to share your results with your organisation or with the international community. There are chapters covering sequence databases, oligonucleotide design, experimental design, image processing, normalisation, identifying differentially expressed genes, clustering, classification and data standards. The book is based on the highly successful Microarray Bioinformatics course at Oxford University, and therefore is ideally suited for teaching the subject at postgraduate or professional level.
This text features detailed descriptions of methods of bio molecular sequence and structure analyses of interest to students and practitioners of bioinformatics both in the corporate and academic sectors.
"In this book, Andy Baxevanis and Francis Ouellette . . . haveundertaken the difficult task of organizing the knowledge in thisfield in a logical progression and presenting it in a digestibleform. And they have done an excellent job. This fine text will makea major impact on biological research and, in turn, on progress inbiomedicine. We are all in their debt." —Eric Lander from the Foreword Reviews from the First Edition "...provides a broad overview of the basic tools for sequenceanalysis ... For biologists approaching this subject for the firsttime, it will be a very useful handbook to keep on the shelf afterthe first reading, close to the computer." —Nature Structural Biology "...should be in the personal library of any biologist who usesthe Internet for the analysis of DNA and protein sequencedata." —Science "...a wonderful primer designed to navigate the novice throughthe intricacies of in scripto analysis ... The accomplished genesearcher will also find this book a useful addition to theirlibrary ... an excellent reference to the principles ofbioinformatics." —Trends in Biochemical Sciences This new edition of the highly successful Bioinformatics:A Practical Guide to the Analysis of Genes and Proteinsprovides a sound foundation of basic concepts, with practicaldiscussions and comparisons of both computational tools anddatabases relevant to biological research. Equipping biologists with the modern tools necessary to solvepractical problems in sequence data analysis, the Second Editioncovers the broad spectrum of topics in bioinformatics, ranging fromInternet concepts to predictive algorithms used on sequence,structure, and expression data. With chapters written by experts inthe field, this up-to-date reference thoroughly covers vitalconcepts and is appropriate for both the novice and the experiencedpractitioner. Written in clear, simple language, the book isaccessible to users without an advanced mathematical or computerscience background. This new edition includes: All new end-of-chapter Web resources, bibliographies, andproblem sets Accompanying Web site containing the answers to the problems,as well as links to relevant Web resources New coverage of comparative genomics, large-scale genomeanalysis, sequence assembly, and expressed sequence tags A glossary of commonly used terms in bioinformatics andgenomics Bioinformatics: A Practical Guide to the Analysis of Genesand Proteins, Second Edition is essential reading forresearchers, instructors, and students of all levels in molecularbiology and bioinformatics, as well as for investigators involvedin genomics, positional cloning, clinical research, andcomputational biology.
The ideal text for biology students encountering bioinformatics for the first time, Introduction to Bioinformatics describes how recent technological advances in the field can be used as a powerful set of tools for receiving and analyzing biological data.