Decoding Biology November Recap

November was a big month for the Decoding Biology newsletter, covering everything from data visualization, the ins and outs of synthetic biology, essential coding skills for bioinformatics, and the future of wearable biotechnology. Now, let’s hit the rewind button and revisit all of the new content from last month in this recap.

Whether you’re a long-time reader or just jumping in, this newsletter is your one-stop-shop to catch up on all the good stuff. If these articles sparked your interest, I’d be grateful if you’d consider sharing them with a friend.

🧬 Python Fundamentals For Biologists

This newsletter is for my readers interested in learning bioinformatics but overwhelmed by the sheer volume of coding instructionals available. This guide highlights key concepts without overwhelming beginners with minutiae or glossing over critical concepts. From understanding the logic behind loops and conditionals to deciphering the power of functions, this guide is your short go-to resource, equipping you with the tools to decipher and compose code that unlocks the mysteries hidden in biological data.

🧬 Introduction to Biopython

Biological data analysis can be complex, repetitive, and time-consuming, making it difficult for many biologists and researchers to learn — this is where Biopython comes in. Biopython is a versatile open-source toolkit with a vast collection of modules and functions custom-tailored for biological data manipulation and analysis. In this newsletter, I’ll teach you how to leverage Biopython toolkit capabilities to perform fundamental bioinformatics tasks such as analyzing DNA sequences.

🧬 Data Visualization Fundamentals For Biologists

This newsletter is a compliment to Python Fundamentals For Biologists. In this newsletter, I’ll introduce data visualization for bioinformatics without overwhelming beginners with minutiae or glossing over critical concepts. In bioinformatics, data visualization is crucial for interpreting complex biological datasets, making it easier for researchers to identify patterns, trends, and insights. Additionally, effective visualization enhances data-driven decision-making, aids in hypothesis generation, and facilitates communication of findings.

🧬 Engineering Biological Circuits: The Future of Wearable Biotechnology

Synthetic biology is poised to revolutionize the biotechnology industry, leading to cheaper targeted therapeutics, greener fuels, and more sustainable materials, enhanced abilities to sense biological molecules in our bodies and environment, and even reintroducie previously endangered species such as the Dodo bird. In this newslwtter, I’llI’ll provide an overview of synthetic biology and how the basic technology of building biological circuity works. Additionally, I’llI’ll discuss interesting emerging research areas, such as wearable biotechnology.

🧬 Unraveling Evolutionary Secrets through Sequence Alignment

Sequence alignment is a fundamental technique in bioinformatics that involves arranging and comparing two or more biological sequences to identify similarities, differences, and patterns within the data. In this newsletter, we’ll explore sequence alignment and its importance, the differences between global and local sequence alignment, commonly used sequence alignment algorithms, and ways for you to harness the power of programming languages to perform sequence alignment easily.

🧬 Identifying DNA Binding Motifs With Regular Expressions

Regular expressions, or Regex, are powerful search pattern tools that offer a flexible and efficient way to analyze biological data in text format. Additionally, regular expressions simplify complex pattern-matching tasks, enabling researchers to extract, analyze, and interpret information from diverse and extensive datasets. In this newsletter, I demonstrate some of the most basic Regex functions you may encounter.