A Bioinformatics Module for Use in an Introductory Biology Laboratory

Abstract

Since biomedical science has become increasingly data-intensive, acquisition of computational and quantitative skills by science students has become more important. For non-science students, an introduction to biomedical databases and their applications promotes the development of a scientifically literate population. Because typical college introductory biology laboratories do not include experiences of this type, we present a bioinformatics module that can easily be included in a 90-minute session of a biology course for both majors and non-majors. Students completing this computational, inquiry-based module observed the value of computer-assisted analysis. The module gave students an understanding of how to read files in a biological database (GenBank) and how to use a software tool (BLAST) to mine the database.