Recommended Books
General
- Do not feel under pressure to buy all the books listed below — please get advice from us before parting with your money!
- Several copies of these and other relevant books are available in the Birkbeck Library
- Free electronic versions of various textbooks are available from the NCBI Bookshelf
- A number of important journals (including Bioinformatics) are available in electronic form via the Birkbeck Library e-journal list
- Throughout the course individual lecturers make PDFs of specialised articles available as and when appropriate.
Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics:
Sequence and Genome Analysis
by D.W. Mount, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press (2004), ISBN
0879697121
A comprehensive book on all aspects of standard bioinformatics analysis (including some Perl programming and the Bioperl library). Definitely my favorite among bioinformatics books. There are many more on the market, but they tend to be either superficial when it comes to algorithmic and statistics details or rather mathematical. (LW)
Biological Sequence Analysis: Probabilistic Models of Proteins and Nucleic Acids
by Richard Durbin, Sean R. Eddy, Anders Krogh, Graeme Mitchison,
Cambridge University Press (1998), ISBN 0521629713
A classic, but perhaps too challenging for some students before they have done the MSc course.
Biology
Crash
Course: Cell Biology and Genetics
by A.L. Manson, Mosby (2nd edition, 2003), ISBN 0723432481
A very concise introduction to concepts in molecular biology, genomics, and genetics. Small enough to carry around, and relatively cheap. The 3rd edition (by different authors) is due to be published in June 2008.
Genomes 2
by T.A. Brown, Garland (2002)
The most important things — and more — that one needs to know about the organisation and functioning of genomes. This second edition is freely available online here.
Genomes 3
by T.A. Brown, Garland (2006), ISBN 0815341385
The latest edition of the Genomes book. More up-to-date than the second edition, but rather expensive.
Introduction
to Protein Structure
by C. Branden & J. Tooze, Garland Science (1998), ISBN
0815323050
A beautifully-illustrated classic on protein structure and architecture. We've recommended this book for years, but arguably the next book is even more appealing.
Protein Structure and Function
by G.A. Petsko & D. Ringe, New Science Press (2004), ISBN 1405119225
The first in a series of Primers in Biology, constructed on a modular principle.
Molecular Biology of the Cell
B. Alberts, A. Johnson, J. Lewis, M. Raff, K. Roberts, P Walter, Garland (2002)
An excellent source of relevant information at both the molecular and cellular levels. The 4th edition is freely available online here. The 5th edition (2008) is now available, but expensive.
Computing
Programming
Perl, 3rd edition
by L. Wall, T. Christiansen & J. Orwant, O'Reilly (2000), ISBN
0596000278
A classic introductory and reference source for the Perl programming language, arguably the most popular language for bioinformatics programming.
Introductory
Statistics with R
by P. Dalgaard, Springer-Verlag (2002), ISBN 0387954759
R is rapidly becoming the most important (free) statistical analysis tool for bioinformatics applications. It has the reputation of being a bit cryptic to newcomers. This book provides a gentle introduction to R's rich statistical programming language.
Other Topics
An
Introduction to Chemoinformatics: Revised Edition
by Andrew R. Leach and V.J. Gillet, Springer (2003), ISBN 1402062907
Not required reading for the chemoinformatics lectures, but the best book to read if you are interested in the field.