Course Time: Thursdays 4:30 pm - 7:10 pm

Location: Occoquan Building, Room 302, Prince William Campus

Instructors:    Saleet Jafri                                           Vijay Sarathy Srinivasan
                        Occoquan Building Room 328G          Occoquan Building, Room 443
                        703-993-8420                                    vsriniva@gmu.edu
                        sjafri@gmu.edu
                        

Textbook: Bioinformatics and Drug Discovery edited by Richard S. Larson

Reference Books on Reserve in PW library:
Bioinformatics and Drug Discovery edited by by Richard S. Larson
Modern Methods in Drug Discovery edited by Alexander Hillisch and R. Hilgenfeld
Chemoinformatics in Drug Discovery by Tudor I. Oprea

Course Description:

Many of the functions of organs, organ systems, and organisms result from cellular and sub-cellular processes consisting of the complex biochemical reaction networks and behaviors of proteins and other cellular components. Many diseases are due to changes at these levels.  Modeling these systems helps further understanding of the complex dynamics occurring in cells and can help design new treatments for disease.  This course will enable to describe cellular and biochemical systems by a system of mathematical equations, perform mathematical and computation analysis of these equations, and answer scientific questions about these systems.

Grading Policy:
Homework and Class Discussion 40%
Midterm Exam 30%
Final Exam 30%

Homework assignments will be assigned weekly during the semester. They will include readings from the literature and text as well as exercises. These will be discussed in the following class. They will be due two weeks after they are assigned. Late homeworks will not be accepted.
At the end of the semester there will be a final exam or final project.

Academic Honesty Policy : Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. This includes cheating, plagiarism, and falsification of academic records. That being said, you can help each other out on the homework (this does not mean that you can copy each other's homework).
Calculators: You may use calculators in this class.

Important Dates:
Thursday January 26, 2006 - First Day of Class
Thursday, March 23 4:30 pm - 7:10 pm - Midterm Exam
Thursday May 11, 2006 4:30 pm - 7:15 pm - Final Exam

Sage Advice: If you want to do well in course: 1) Do all the homework. 2) Ask questions in class or make an appointment to see one of the instructors.. 3) If you are having difficulty doing the homework, be sure to see the instructor for additional help.

Course Schedule:

Week 1 - January 26, 2006
Week 2 - February 2, 2006
Week 3 - February 9, 2006
Week 4 - February 16, 2006
Week 5 - February 23, 2006
Week 6 - March 2, 2006
Week 7 - March 9, 2006
Week 8 - March 16, 2006 - Spring Break
Week 9 - March 23,2006 - Mid-Term Exam
Week 10 - March  30, 2006
Week 11 - April 6, 2006
Week 12 - April 13, 2006
Week 13 - April 20, 2006
Week 14 - April 27, 2006
Week 15 - May 4, 2006
Final Exam Period - May 11, 2006 - Final Exam
 
Last modified Wed Jan 25 10:35 EDT 2006 by Saleet Jafri