An Introduction to Bioinformatics

 

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2007, Volume 28

Robert J. Kosinski

Abstract

This laboratory introduces several simple bioinformatics techniques: using BLAST to identify proteins and DNA sequences, determining basic information about a protein in the Swiss-Prot database and in databases linked to it, researching a medical or molecular topic using PubMed, using Clustal W to do molecular phylogenetic comparisons, and exploring the human genome. The capstone exercise asks the students to use DNA isolates to assess the evidence for a bioterror attack after a mass illness. This laboratory has been used for two years in the introductory biology course for majors at Clemson University.

Keywords:  protein, bioinformatics, phylogenetic analysis, gene, bioterrorism

Purdue University (2006)