The course requires a final research project. You are allowed to work in pairs or individually, preferably combining different background and expertise in each team, but you can also work individually.The main objective of the project should involve some software development: either to produce a new method and study it, or to compare existing methods in a sophisficated way. Your final project will be presented in the form of a paper and presentation. The presentation should be 40 mins with 30 minutes of presentation and 10 minutes for discussion and questions. A demo of the software during the presentation is encouraged!

Students are expected to select and complete a course project according to the following timetable:

  • August 30, 2012: Sample project descriptions will be given out in class: Completed.
  • September 6, 2012: Students submit their partners or declare that they will work individually: Completed..
  • September 25, 2012: Students submit a project proposal (one to two pages): Completed.
  • October 2, 2012: Project proposal presentations (15 to 20 mins). Tentative date based on scheduling.
  • November 29th & December 4, 2012: Project presentations.
  • December 6, 2012: Final project report due.
The project is worth a large portion of your grade so ensure that you start early and make enough progress early on so that you can any unforseen obstacles. I encourage you to please come talk to me about your projects, especially if you want to do a project that involves developing a new method. I will provide data for the projects if necessary. The best projects can be submitted to a journal or conference so aim high, especially if you want to continue doing research in bioinformatics.

Update on Project Final Report/Presentation: Your final report should be at least 8 pages in the Journal of Bioinformatics format. This 8 pages does not include any figures or graphs. All figures should be put into Supplementary Information section of the report that follows immediately from the main report. Here are some important points you should follow when preparing your final report:
  • The template for the Journal of Bioinformatics report can be found here: here. Do not modify the template. There is both a Word and LaTex template.
  • All section that are in the template (i.e. Abstract, Introduction, Methods, etc.) should be included in your report.
  • The report should be at least pages, not including graphs, tables or figures. All graphs, tables, figures should be in the Supplementary Information.
  • The report should be sent via email to Christina Boucher via email by December 6th at noon. Any report sent after this time will be given a final grade of zero.
  • The final presentation should be 30 minutes in length. It should include a live demonstration of what programs you ran and how you ran it.