Dr. Daniel Figeys
Office: RGN (New wing)
Tel: 562-5800 xt8674
Email: dfigeys@uottawa.ca

Time and Location
451 Smyth Rd
Roger Guindon Hall
Rm 4161
Tuesdays 9:30-12:30
First class: Sept 16, 2008
Last Class: Tues Dec 9, 2008

Evaluation: Scientific discourse at its most practical (i.e., publishing new findings and obtaining funding to maintain a research laboratory) depends upon peer-review. We, as scientists, receive little formal training in the critical discourse required for fair and ethical reviews. This course is designed to provide some of this training. As such, 30% of your grade is determined by a series of peer-review exercises.

As hypothesis-driven scientists, we rely upon deductive reasoning.  We define a research question based on our theory of how the human body operates.  We narrow that question down to testable hypotheses.  We devise experimental paradigms that allow us to observe a discrete biological system under defined conditions.  We generate data from these observations that we use to test our hypotheses.  We use these tests to confirm, refute, or refine our original theory.  


Can we explore an alternative logic in scientific discourse?  A systems approach applies inductive reasoning.  We begin in exploratory mode by generating multiple observations and datasets. We mine these datasets for patterns. With these patterns, we formulate tentative hypotheses.  We apply these hypotheses back upon our original datasets in iterative fashion to validate our proposed patterns.  From these validated patterns, we develop general conclusions and, ultimately, a theory of the human condition.

In this course, we will study recent advances in genomics, proteomics, lipidomics, metabolomics, and computational biology to understand this systems approach and we will explore how combining inductive and deductive reasoning can improve our understanding of human disease.

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