Course: CSC:483 Special Topics - Applied Biological Data Science
Documentation
Welcome
The course website for CSC483, part of the Union College CS curriculum. Here you can find our weekly schedule, assignmnets and resources.
Announcements
Announcements
- No class Tues
- I’ll be giving a seminar during common hour, feel free to come!
- Karp 005, 12:50 - 1:45 pm
- Final project Colab notebooks due Wednesday
- Presentations start Thursday (last day of class)
- still attend even if you are not presenting
- peer review points can be made-up by commenting on an extra projects and putting the link in your check-in notebook
Office Hours
- Student/Office Hours:
- Steinmetz 108B
- Wednesday 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
- Thursday 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
- subject to change, check course website for most up-tp-date schedule
- drop-in or schedule a 15 minute slot: https://calendar.app.google/8bus6pfDvyphR9ar5
- by appointment for another time or over zoom
Course Description
In this course we will gain familiarity and practice in methods of analyzing biological sequence data and the large datasets that have resulted from decades of high-throughput experimentation. We will follow how data are turned into biological knowledge through the general workflow of (1) sequence alignment, (2) dimensionality reduction and (3) statistical, comparative hypothesis testing. At each stage we will compare state-of-the-art deterministic methods with emerging machine learning-based counterparts and interrogate trade-offs in performance and interpretability. We will explore the role of interdisciplinary communication in biological data science and the iterative process of program development and implementation in exploring the great biological unknowns. This course will use Python and R and introduce libraries useful in applied computer science and guidance on how different approaches are used in different contexts. No prior biological knowledge will be assumed.
Prerequisite(s): MTH 197 and a C- or higher in CSC 151. Recommended: CSC 250. MTH 199 can be substituted for MTH 197 CC: SET Note: Course can be repeated for credit under different topics. Consult with the department chair for more information.