Pathogenomics: Analysis, interpretation and applications of microbial genomes

Pathogen genomes offer a wealth of information—from the discovery of new gene functions to helping to pinpoint the source of a food borne disease outbreak—and have become an increasingly widespread tool in microbiology in recent years. This course will introduce the fundamentals of genome sequencing and analysis for the study of microbial pathogens, and discuss current applications of these techniques in diverse microbial taxa (viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites). In addition to lectures, the course will include hands-on computational analysis of pathogen genomic data in which students will learn how to analyze genomic data and apply these skills to an independent project investigating a novel question using a publicly available genomic dataset. Students should have taken introductory courses in genetics or microbiology (either BIOL0470 or BIOL0510) and computing in a unix environment prior to enrolling in this class.