BCB 444/544 Fall 06 Oct 17 544Extra #2 p 1
BCB 444/544
544 Extra #2 (20 pts)
Task 1 due ASAP (see below)
Task 2 due Mon Oct 29 by 5 PM
Name _________________________________________
(Please send electronic copy to terrible@iastate.edu & to ddobbs@iastate.edu
or deliver hard copy to MBB 106)
IMPORTANT: Plan ahead: you must submit Task #1 & obtain approval of topic before completing Task #2.
Objectives:
1. To plan Team Semester Projects
2. To encourage you to become familiar with the literature in the area of your project topic
Task #1: (5 pts total)
Prepare a brief outline of your Team Semester Project
Take a look at Guidelines for team semester projects - and some examples from previous years:
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~f2007.com_s.544/project.htm
Meet with your teammate (if any) and discuss your ideas for the semester project. Decide on a final topic
(or a couple topics) and prepare a brief written outline (1 page). Your outline should include some general
background on the topic, why the topic is important and interesting, and a brief outline of how you plan to attack
the problem.
If your team cannot settle on an idea, or would like input from us, please schedule a meeting with Drena and
Michael as soon as possible. We can help you finalize your project topic.
Send 1 page Outline by email directly to terrible@iastate.edu AND ddobbs@iastate.edu as soon as possible.
Be sure to type BCB 544 PROJECT in email header! You will receive a response within 48 hrs.
Task #2: (15 pts total)
Prepare a detailed outline of your Team Semester Project, with
references and/or URLs
2.1 (6 pts)
Prepare a detailed outline of your planned experiments. This outline should list the planned
experiment(s), the reason for doing the experiment, and the anticipated results. It is Ok if this plan changes
after you get some results from your experiments, but we expect you to be able to think ahead about the types of
analyses you need to solve for your problem.
2.2 (6 pts)
Find 2 or 3 key references related to your project and in 2 or 3 sentences, summarize what
the “state of the art (bioinformatics/computational biology appraoches” or “state of the biological problem”
appears to be, based on these references. Provide the complete citations for these references and either a
URL or PDF (or both) for 2 or 3 papers. Also, if appropriate, provide the URLs of relevant websites for servers
or software for similar problems as your topic. Note: Please resist the urge to send more than 2 or 2 references!!
We know you will find them, but please send us only 2 or 3 most important ones for now.
2.3 (3 pts)
Schedule and attend a 15 minute meeting with Drena and Michael to discuss your project plans.
The meeting time must be finalized before Monday,Oct 29 and meeting must occur by Friday, Nov 2th. We are
available for meetings every week after class on Mon, Wed, Fri from 11-12, on Thurs during and after Lab
1-4, and by appointment at other times. Please call lab 4-4991 or email terrible@iastate.edu to confirm an
appointment time.