Biochemistry 158/258

Genomics, Bioinformatics & Medicine

Doug Brutlag

Final Project

The Final project for the course will be a 10 page paper (max, single or double spaced) on a topic relevant to genomics and medicine of interest to you. The topic can be in any area we have covered in the course or an area we have not covered. (Page limit does not include Tables, Figures or Reference). For example, these could include:

  1. Genomic approaches to medicine (personal genomics, medical genetics, genetic counseling, pediatric panels, preventive medicine, etc. etc.)

  2. Genomic annotations (systems biology, functional genomics, gene ontologies, bioinformatics, synthetic biology etc.)

  3. Genome variations (SNPs, haplotype maps, human evolution, structural variations, copy number variations, next generation sequencing methods, full genome sequencing)

  4. Drug development (pharmacogenomics, pharmacogenetics, drug targets, combinatorial chemistry, drug screening, FDA drug approval, drug labeling, market segmentation etc.)

  5. Ethical and societal issues (genetic privacy, insurability, genetic discrimination, employment, health care policy, genetic screening, in vitro fertilization, preimplantation genetic screening, eugenics, etc.)

Near the middle of the course you will be asked to submit a proposed topic via email to the instructor. You should have performed a literature search on your area using PubMed MESH and Google Scholar and have selected two or three relevant articles (preferably review articles, but seminal primary articles will also suffice) on the area of your interest. We will then attempt to focus or broaden the area as needed via an email discussion. These Final projects should be at a conceptually higher level than the other projects completed for the course.

Please follow the bibliographic search procedures described in class. Include both literature and web links in your references so I can refer to them readily.

Please send your Final papers to brutlag@stanford.edu by midnight on the due date.

© Doug Brutlag 2015