LEARNING OUTCOMES

Biological databases. Data mining in medicine and in molecular biology. Common software in molecular biology and biomedicine.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

BIOETHICS Bioethical aspects of biomedical research. Scientific basis for the experimental methodology. Design and preparation of research projects

BIOINFORMATICS Biological databases. Data mining in medicine and in molecular biology. Common software in molecular biology and biomedicine. 

TEACHING METHODS

Most of the classes are magistral classes in which the students discuss the different themes with the professor. The classes are complemented with the completion of a group work consisting in the elaboration of a research project application

The course is undertaken in the informatics classroom (each student have a computer in it) because it combines the use of magistral classes  to introduce some basic concepts with the completion of different practical assignments each day.  The students must also present a written memorandum about the resolution of a given problem. 

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

BIOETHICS

• Components of a research project: Parts of a protocol to the sun • Funding Request.
• Principles of Bioethics: a) Confidentiality b) Informed consent c) Declaration of Helsinki) d) Animal research.
• Justification and objectives of scientific research: a) Introduction (background) of a study b) Criteria for the preparation of the hypotheses and objectives.
• Designing a research project: a) Main study designs b) Designs for studies of drug use b) Advantages and limitations of these designs.
• Critical reading of published scientific articles: Main criteria and ckecklist according to the types of design.
• Good scientific practices: a) European Code of scientific integrity b) Research projects funded by industry c) Authorship of scientific research.
• Good Clinical Practices
• Research analysis: a) The main statistical parameters and estimates used in the health sciences. b) Contrast hypothesis c) Elements to structure statistical analysis of studies
• Translational research in biomedicine: a) The concept of translational research b) Scientific evidence review and meta-analysis c) evidence-based medicine and clinical practice guidelines.
• Assessment of research projects at the ISC III, European Commission, TV3 Marathon and other funding agencies.
• The discussion of a study: a) parts of a scientific paper b) The content of the discussion c) Conclusions d) Communication 2.0 in biomedical research.
• Ethical committees and research: a) The different types of committees b) Bioethics Committee of Catalonia.
• The impact assessment of biomedical research: a) the ex-post evaluation of research; b) objectives, models, methods and challenges; c) applications and case studies.
• The presentation of methods and results in biomedical research: a) Presentation of a research protocol b) Presentation of data in an oral communication c) Presentation of data in a poster congress.

BIOINFORMATICS

• General Introduction to bioinformatics and examples of their usefulness.
• Genomic data and their formats. Description of the main databases.
• Genes and Genomes: introduction to the main genomic database search facilities. How to access these data and discussion about their reliability.
• Alignment: Theory and practice. Theoretical basis of alignment, basic tools for making alignments, use of alignments for datamining (similarity search), alignments of profiles and protein domains.
• Prediction of genes and identification of transcription factors. Theory of modeling gene sequences, introduction to the "Position Wheigth Matrices" statistical coding sequence, Ab initio gene prediction, comparative gene prediction.
• Scale ge

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

   The Data and Story Library. See at http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/DASL/

   Electronic Statistics Textbook (2010). See at http://www.statsoft.com/textbook/

   Critical Appraisal Skills Programme Español See at http://www.redcaspe.org/

   Evidence Based Medicine Journal Club Curriculum See at http://www.nuthalapaty.net/kb/ebm/checklist.htm

   Evidence-Based Medicine for Primary Care and Internal Medicine. See at http://ebm.bmj.com/

   Centre for Evidence Based Medicine. See at http://www.cebm.net/

Bioinformatics: A Practical Guide to the Analysis of Genes and Proteins, 3rd Edition
Andreas D. Baxevanis (Editor), B. F. Francis Ouellette (Editor) ISBN: 978-0-471-47878-2
November 2004

TEACHING METHODS

Most of the classes are magistral classes in which the students discuss the different themes with the professor. The classes are complemented with the completion of a group work consisting in the elaboration of a research project application

The course is undertaken in the informatics classroom (each student have a computer in it) because it combines the use of magistral classes  to introduce some basic concepts with the completion of different practical assignments each day.  The students must also present a written memorandum about the resolution of a given problem. 

Class schedule

All class schedules are posted on the EasyAcademy portal.