I. Introduction. 1. Biology in the Computer Age. 2. Computational Approaches to Biological Questions -- II. The Bioinformatics Workstation. 3. Setting Up Your Workstation. 4. Files and Directories in Unix. 5. Working on a Unix System -- III. Tools for Bioinformatics. 6. Biological Research on the Web. 7. Sequence Analysis, Pairwise Alignment, and Database Searching. 8. Multiple Sequence Alignments, Trees, and Profiles. 9. Visualizing Protein Structures and Computing Structural Properties. 10. Predicting Protein Structure and Function from Sequence. 11. Tools for Genomics and Proteomics -- IV. Databases and Visualization. 12. Automating Data Analysis with Perl. 13. Building Biological Databases. 14. Visualization and Data Mining.

Bioinformatics--the application of computational and analytical methods to biological problems--is a rapidly evolving scientific discipline. Genome sequencing projects are producing vast amounts of biological data for many different organisms, and, increasingly, storing these data in public databases. Such biological databases are growing exponentially, along with the biological literature. It\'s impossible for even the most zealous researcher to stay on top of necessary information in the field without the aid of computer-based tools. Bioinformatics is all about building these tools.Developing Bioinformatics Computer Skills is for scientists and students who are learning computational approaches to biology for the first time, as well as for experienced biology researchers who are just starting to use computers to handle their data. The book covers the Unix file system, building tools and databases for bioinformatics, computational approaches to biological problems, an introduction to Perl for bioinformatics, data mining, and data visualization.Written in a clear, engaging style, Developing Bioinformatics Computer Skills will help biologists develop a structured approach to biological data as well as the tools they\'ll need to analyze the data.