This page is dedicated to the Bioinformatics 1 course taught in winter semester 2023/24. The lectures will start on October 12 and take place on Thursdays from 10 am to 12 am in the lecture hall SP4 201 (Schlossplatz 4).

Exam: Please see the information at the bottom of the page and make sure to regularly check the website for updates.

Lecturers

• Prof. Dr. Wojciech Makalowski, Institute of Bioinformatics
  • office hours by appointment (wojmak@uni-muenster.de) in Niels-Stensen-Straße 14
• Prof. Dr. Jürgen Gadau, Institute for Evolution & Biodiversity
• Prof. Dr. Eberhard Korsching, Institute of Bioinformatics
• Prof. Dr. Xiaoyi Jiang, Computer Science Department

Syllabus

The slides for the lectures will be uploaded here.

Date	Topic/held by	Handouts
October 12	Introduction to bioinformatics from the evolutionary perspective (WM)	[Download]
October 19	Introduction to Sequence Analysis (WM)	[Download]
October 26	Genome Annotation (WM)	[Download]
November 02	Phylogenetic inference (WM)	[Download]
November 09	Differential gene expression (JG)	[Download]
November 16	Introduction to systems biology (EK)	[Download]
November 23*	Introduction to artificial intelligence for biologists (XJ)	[Download]

*Please note that on November 23 the lecture starts at 12:15.

Recommended textbooks

Please note that there is no specific textbook that we follow, but these books cover most of the material plus some extras.

Practicals

The practicals will be split in two parts: RNAseq and phylogenetic trees. Both parts will be held online and you will need your own computer. To participate, you need to select one of the available groups. This will be your group for both practicals. Each group will do the practicals live via Zoom. A supervisor will also be in the meeting and answer questions.
The time frame is:

• Phylogenetic trees: 27.11.23 - 01.12.23
• RNAseq: 04.12.23 - 08.12.23

If you have questions regarding the practicals please contact Felix Manske. If you have specific questions about the second week of the practicals (RNAseq), please contact Lukas Schrader.

Registration opens November 6 at 8:00: please select a group on the registration website. The registration closes on November 9 at 14:00. A limited number of spots is available per group, so the registration is based on the first-come, first-served principle. If you encounter technical issues during the registration, please contact Norbert Grundmann

You will receive an email with the Zoom meeting information for your group during the alignment part on November 22. If you haven't received an email, please contact Felix Manske immediately.

The meeting information for the RNA seq part will be sent on November 29. If you have not received an email, please contact Lukas Schrader immediately.

The groups for both weeks are:

• Group a; Monday 14:00 - 16:00 s.t.
• Group b; Monday 16:00 - 18:00 s.t.
• Group c; Tuesday 8:00 - 10:00 s.t.
• Group d; Tuesday 10:00 - 12:00 s.t.
• Group e; Wednesday 8:00 - 10:00 s.t.
• Group f; Wednesday 10:00 - 12:00 s.t.
• Group g; Thursday 14:00 - 16:00 s.t.
• Group h; Thursday 16:00 - 18:00 s.t.
• Group i; Friday 14:00 - 16:00 s.t.

Important for the phylogeny week: Please install the software MEGA 11 before the practicals: Go to the website and download MEGA 11. To download, you have to select your operating system and the software version. In this practical, we will use the graphical (GUI) version. 64-bit should be fine with most modern PCs (younger than 8 years). Also note the installation instructions. The software should run fine on Windows and MacOS.
Attention Linux users: There is a dependency problem with the latest version of MEGA and Ubuntu and Debian. Please install MEGA 10.2.

Important for the RNAseq week: You must have installed Microsoft Excel. Alternatively, you must have access to Office 365 (available via the university license).

Materials

Here are the files that you will need during the first week of the practicals. You are supposed to work on the exercises during the practicals.

• Instructions
• Exercises: PDF or office
• DNA lost world
• Matrices

2nd week: The PDF provides background information regarding the data that will be analyzed in the practicals. It also provides detailed instructions regarding the steps to follow during the practicals.

Exam

The Bioinformatics exam will take place in the computer pool of the Institute of Anatomy (room "Histologiesaal"; Vesaliusweg 2-4) on the 13.12.2023 at 14:00. Please be at the location at 13:30, so we can check your identity. In the digital exam, you will answer single choice questions. You can choose between an English and a German version at the beginning of the exam.

Please bring a standard pocket calculator to the exam. Using the calculator on your smartphone is not allowed.

Please bring your student ID card or (if you don't have one) your regular ID card or passport to the exam.

Grades

If you registered in QISPOS, your grades for the exam and the practicals are now available on the QISPOS website. We will publish grades on the CMS in January. If you did not register, but need a certificate of attendence, please contact Wojciech Makalowski in January.

The bioinformatics team wishes you happy holidays and a happy new year.

Makeup exam

The makeup exam will be on February 21 2024 at 2pm (HüS: Socialroom IEB, Hüfferstraße 1).