Course unit

Introduction to synthetic biology and bio-informatics

Last updated: 26/09/2024

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Course Director(s):

FOREST Valérie

General Description:

ECTS number : 2

(Teaching unit shared with the ICM curriculum, Biomedical engineering major.)

The synthetic biology section will enable students to approach a new discipline and its different aspects (scientific, technical, ethical, theoretical and practical …).

In the bioinformatics section students will be taught to apply fundamental concepts of biology, mathematics and computer science to the study of genomes.


Key words:

Synthetic biology Genomics Bioinformatics

Number of teaching hours

40

Fields of study

Biological engineering, Medical engineering

Teaching language

French English

Intended learning outcomes

On completion of the unit, the student will be capable of: Classification level Priority
Acquiring knowledge about the new science of synthetic biology 2. Understand Important
Analysing applications of synthetic biology 4. Analyse Useful
Applying the fundamental concepts of biology, mathematics and computer science to the study of genomes 3. Apply Important

Learning assessment methods

Percentage ratio of individual assessment Percentage ratio of group assessment
Written exam: 25 % Project submission: %
Individual oral exam: % Group presentation: 50 %
Individual presentation: % Group practical exercise: %
Individual practical exercise: 25 % Group report: %
Individual report: %
Other(s): %

Programme and content

Type of teaching activity Content, sequencing and organisation
Course

To acquire knowledge about this new science of synthetic biology, the courses will present the concepts, definitions, origins and principles. The student will also have the opportunity of learning about the different approaches, tools and technical means relating to the science. Ethical considerations will also be dealt with. The students will then see current and future applications in different fields.


Supervised studies

To be able to analyse the applications of synthetic biology, students will study the iGEM competition (origins, principles..). Examples will be detailed and an analytical method proposed. This activity will be the occasion for students to understand how to analyse, comment on and present a synthetic biology project

Course

Students will follow an introductory course on bioinformatics which aims to provide all the necessary bases to deal with the major issues of the science. In particular students will see the following aspects :
- Introduction and revision of genomics
- Data bases
- Sequence alignments
- Markov models and modelling
- Prediction of the 2D and 3D structure of genes

Supervised studies

Students will then have practical courses in bioinformatics, representing the direct implementation of the courses, enabling them to use the most important software programmes :
- Sequence alignments
- Sequence and structure
- Phylogeny
- Protein Structure
- Ontology of genes