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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Genome Sequencing (Bioinformatics II) by University of California San Diego

4.6
stars
314 ratings

About the Course

You may have heard a lot about genome sequencing and its potential to usher in an era of personalized medicine, but what does it mean to sequence a genome? Biologists still cannot read the nucleotides of an entire genome as you would read a book from beginning to end. However, they can read short pieces of DNA. In this course, we will see how graph theory can be used to assemble genomes from these short pieces. We will further learn about brute force algorithms and apply them to sequencing mini-proteins called antibiotics. In the first half of the course, we will see that biologists cannot read the 3 billion nucleotides of a human genome as you would read a book from beginning to end. However, they can read shorter fragments of DNA. In this course, we will see how graph theory can be used to assemble genomes from these short pieces in what amounts to the largest jigsaw puzzle ever put together. In the second half of the course, we will discuss antibiotics, a topic of great relevance as antimicrobial-resistant bacteria like MRSA are on the rise. You know antibiotics as drugs, but on the molecular level they are short mini-proteins that have been engineered by bacteria to kill their enemies. Determining the sequence of amino acids making up one of these antibiotics is an important research problem, and one that is similar to that of sequencing a genome by assembling tiny fragments of DNA. We will see how brute force algorithms that try every possible solution are able to identify naturally occurring antibiotics so that they can be synthesized in a lab. Finally, you will learn how to apply popular bioinformatics software tools to sequence the genome of a deadly Staphylococcus bacterium that has acquired antibiotics resistance....

Top reviews

SV

Jan 9, 2017

Great course to explore a bit of Bioinformatics for those with no background in Bioinformatics. I love the way the content has been provided, its interactivity increases the interest in the course.

MP

Dec 7, 2017

I like the real-world tasks, especially the assembly on the final exam. Some of the programming tasks, such as the antibiotic noisy spectrum assembly, are challenging (which is good).

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26 - 50 of 68 Reviews for Genome Sequencing (Bioinformatics II)

By CHAN V S F

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Jul 14, 2021

The exercises were challenging. But thanks to the community in Stepik, I can understand more details for the genome sequencing algorithms.

By Paolo B

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May 9, 2017

Excellent and fun introduction to sequencing techniques. I found it harder than Bioinformatics I, but worth the effort.

By David B

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Jul 25, 2017

This is a well organized course with excellent interactive programming exercises that help with learning the concepts.

By Nivedita S

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Jul 24, 2017

I particularly enjoyed this course a lot more than the first! i felt it was more application oriented and intuitive.

By Rudramani P

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Aug 24, 2019

This one is great introductory course for physicist like who knows the computing but lacks biological background.

By Nazmul H

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Oct 13, 2022

It is a great resource to learn about sequencing algorithms. Their explaination is very easy to understand.

By Ricardo

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Feb 22, 2018

Excellent course to get a sense of Genome sequencing , programming assignments really make you learn.

By Matthew D

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Jan 28, 2024

Great introduction to the background and common computational techniques used for genome sequencing.

By jeff l

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Nov 30, 2020

great course for those with strong motivation and interest. but it is a difficulty one though

By Ce D

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Dec 2, 2016

Very useful to my working project. My gratitude for all the staff of this course.

By Yirou L

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Dec 26, 2016

Very helpful to those biologist who wants to start a career in bioinformatics

By Zack X

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Jul 21, 2019

In depth and comprehensive coverage of the topics in genetic data analysis.

By Enamul H

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Apr 22, 2017

Excellent! I have learned a lot. Pavel Pevzner is a boss of bioinformatics.

By Midori I

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Dec 9, 2016

This course is really help me to understand how to Assemble genomes!!

By Olaf W

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Oct 3, 2018

Great , interactive content. Well structured and explained.

By Dasha P

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Apr 2, 2019

Thank you very much for such an engaging course.

By Sumant K

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Oct 29, 2020

Excellent introduction to Genome sequencing

By Naveen P

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Jun 30, 2017

The course is well defined.

By Ayaan H

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Jun 26, 2016

Enjoyed this course!

By Wenbing Y

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Jan 22, 2017

Very good courses.

By Vibha H

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May 18, 2017

Very nice course!

By Andrés H P C

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Jun 8, 2021

Amazing course!!

By ZIHAN X

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Mar 24, 2019

good course!

By Weidong X

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Jul 30, 2016

good course!

By Mario J C

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Jan 6, 2021

Excellent!