Python for the Life Sciences: A Gentle Introduction to Python for Life Scientists

Description

Written in a fun, accessible and engaging style, this book will introduce you to the Python language with fully worked examples of Python code drawn from all aspects of life sciences, including bioinformatics, structural biology, developmental biology, and evolutionary biology and ecology. Using familiar examples designed specifically for life scientists, you'll learn the basics of the language from the very first chapters and progress from there. You'll find out how to use Python to automate lab calculations, search for gene promoter sequences, rotate a molecular bond, build a cellular toggle switch, model animal coat pattern formation, grow a virtual plant, simulate a flu epidemic, or evolve populations. Python for the Life Sciences provides the tools, confidence and inspiration to start crafting your own Python solutions for the challenges you face in your research. If you are a life scientist interested in learning Python to jump-start your research, this book is for you. What You'll Learn • Write Python scripts to automate your lab calculations • Search for important motifs in genome sequences • Use object-oriented programming with Python • Study mining interaction network data for patterns • Review dynamic modeling of biochemical switches Who This Book Is For Life scientists with little or no programming experience, including undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers in academia and industry, medical professionals, and teachers/lecturers. Front Matter ....Pages i-xxxvi Getting Started with Python (Alexander Lancaster, Gordon Webster)....Pages 1-12 Python at the Lab Bench (Alexander Lancaster, Gordon Webster)....Pages 13-29 Making Sense of Sequences (Alexander Lancaster, Gordon Webster)....Pages 31-49 A Statistical Interlude (Alexander Lancaster, Gordon Webster)....Pages 51-60 Opening Doors to Your Data (Alexander Lancaster, Gordon Webster)....Pages 61-75 Finding Needles in Haystacks (Alexander Lancaster, Gordon Webster)....Pages 77-91 Object Lessons (Alexander Lancaster, Gordon Webster)....Pages 93-119 Slicing and Dicing Genomes (Alexander Lancaster, Gordon Webster)....Pages 121-145 The Wells! The Wells! (Alexander Lancaster, Gordon Webster)....Pages 147-179 Well on the Way (Alexander Lancaster, Gordon Webster)....Pages 181-206 Molecules in 3D (Alexander Lancaster, Gordon Webster)....Pages 207-228 Turning Genes On and Off (Alexander Lancaster, Gordon Webster)....Pages 229-245 Taming the Network Hairball (Alexander Lancaster, Gordon Webster)....Pages 247-262 Genetic Feedback Loops (Alexander Lancaster, Gordon Webster)....Pages 263-289 Growing a Virtual Garden (Alexander Lancaster, Gordon Webster)....Pages 291-301 How the Leopard Got its Spots (Alexander Lancaster, Gordon Webster)....Pages 303-315 Foxes Guarding Henhouses (Alexander Lancaster, Gordon Webster)....Pages 317-327 A Virtual Flu Epidemic (Alexander Lancaster, Gordon Webster)....Pages 329-344 Retracing Life’s Footsteps (Alexander Lancaster, Gordon Webster)....Pages 345-359 Back Matter ....Pages 361-376