Extended Research Questions in Bioinformatics

Course Objective

This course is the follow-up to Research Questions in Bioinformatics. You may choose one of the research topics of the Bioinformatics group to study. In the process, you will get a chance to interview a researcher about a scientific publication. You will be introduced to how research is conducted in the Bioinformatics section. Finally, you will explain the chosen topic to your fellow students in a visual representation and in a presentation.

After following this course the student;

- Knows a specific example of research in the Bioinformatics field. [Knowledge and understanding]

- Understands the knowledge the research is built upon and what the long term goal of this line of research is. [Knowledge and understanding]

- Is able to ask relevant questions about a research paper or a presentation. [Communication]

- Is able to give a clear presentation of a bioinformatics method and its results. [Communication]

- Is able to describe the contents of a bioinformatics scientific publication in their own words. [Communication]

- Can write purposeful feedback on a written assignment of a peer. [Making judgements]

Course Content

Research within Bioinformatics focuses on developing (computational) methods to understand biological experiments, and to predict biological function. During this project, you will discover why Bioinformatics is of great importance for (medical) research.

Additional Information Teaching Methods

On the subject of your choice, you will do the following four parts, which each cost about a week:
1. you will choose a recent paper from one of our group members to read. This allows you to understand the research we are currently working on (you are not going to do the work yourself). The focus is on understanding the research question.
2. you delve deeper into the subject on the basis of two or three extra papers. The focus is on seeing how the research question is approached differently (in the various papers).
3. you write a short popular scientific article in which you explain the context of the research and tease apart the research question.
4. you peer-review the popular articles of other students.
5. you make a poster to present to the student group.

Method of Assessment

• [~70%] popular scientific article in 1000 words, containing the research question, briefly formulated, a review of the consulted literature, and three figures: schematic summary of research method and at least one with results / graph.
• [pass/fail] assessment of articles of the other students (peer review).
• [~30%] presentation (10 minutes) of your poster, with discussion.

More detailed grading and compensation rules will be posted on Canvas.

In case of a failing grade for the popular scientific article this can be redone after the course.

Literature

• Course material on Canvas
• Selected articles for study and presentation.