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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Finding Mutations in DNA and Proteins (Bioinformatics VI) by University of California San Diego

4.7
stars
60 ratings

About the Course

In previous courses in the Specialization, we have discussed how to sequence and compare genomes. This course will cover advanced topics in finding mutations lurking within DNA and proteins. In the first half of the course, we would like to ask how an individual's genome differs from the "reference genome" of the species. Our goal is to take small fragments of DNA from the individual and "map" them to the reference genome. We will see that the combinatorial pattern matching algorithms solving this problem are elegant and extremely efficient, requiring a surprisingly small amount of runtime and memory. In the second half of the course, we will learn how to identify the function of a protein even if it has been bombarded by so many mutations compared to similar proteins with known functions that it has become barely recognizable. This is the case, for example, in HIV studies, since the virus often mutates so quickly that researchers can struggle to study it. The approach we will use is based on a powerful machine learning tool called a hidden Markov model. Finally, you will learn how to apply popular bioinformatics software tools applying hidden Markov models to compare a protein against a related family of proteins....

Top reviews

TK

Jun 28, 2016

One of the best specialization on Coursera. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to apply his/her programming skills to fascinating real-world problems.

EJ

Jul 31, 2021

Great course! It opened my mind on the capabilities of algorithms beyond its intended purpose.

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1 - 15 of 15 Reviews for Finding Mutations in DNA and Proteins (Bioinformatics VI)

By Samuel C

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Sep 16, 2018

Really enjoyed this course. It was great to get to build on work from previous courses.

By Jason M

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Jun 23, 2020

Really loved learning about suffix trees/arrays, BWT, Pattern matching, HMMs!

By Mohamed A

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Aug 14, 2017

Good course. I did this course after the course "Algorithms for DNA Sequencing" of Ben Langmead. Since Ben Langmead was excellent in his explanations, my expectations were the same for this course but I felt that it is not as good as Ben Langmead course maybe because there are no practical videos about programming ideas.

By Tamas K

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Jun 29, 2016

One of the best specialization on Coursera. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to apply his/her programming skills to fascinating real-world problems.

By Edgardo P F J

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Jul 31, 2021

Great course! It opened my mind on the capabilities of algorithms beyond its intended purpose.

By Ramiz G

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Apr 14, 2020

It was probably my favorite in this specialization (at least, out of first six).

By Sakshar C

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Jul 1, 2020

The contents were so well organized and helpful to develop a proper insight

By Zack X

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Jul 21, 2019

In depth and comprehensive coverage of the topics in genetic data analysis.

By Arsham M N

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Apr 1, 2022

It was the greatest course I've ever attended.

By Guru

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Jul 11, 2023

very great teaching

By Mare B

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May 16, 2020

Very good.

By Thomas L

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Jul 17, 2017

Very interesting material. The only reason I marked this course as 4 stars instead of 5 stars is by comparison to the other courses in this specialization. This course does not have the online textbook which means that the student needs to work through the lecture videos very closely in order to be able to solve the programming assignments.

By Thomas G

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Dec 20, 2018

Much more difficult than 1-5 or 7!

By Aditi H

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Aug 1, 2023

Really enjoyed the course.

By Weidong X

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Feb 27, 2017

good