Spring 2026

Class time and location

STTH – 10:00-10:50 (SCI-S C2 Room 120)

Textbook, readings, and lecturing style:

 Introduction to Genomics 2^nd edition, by Arthur M. Lesk.

The lectures will be given using powerpoint slides (see below). It is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to print the material, come to the lectures, and take notes. You will be tested on the material I give in class and the book.

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Attendance:

I will not give points for attending my lectures. You are a RESPONSIBLE student and you want to learn. Missing lectures will significantly affect your performance and grade. I do not intend to give lectures during my office hours or photocopy my lecture notes for you!

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Academic dishonesty:

DO NOT CHEAT. You are smart and you can get the grade you want. Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated.

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Tests and grading:

You will be given THREE independent tests each of which covers specific chapters. Each test is worth 30%. Your LOWEST test grade will be DROPPED and your final grade will be the sum of the two highest scores in addition to the final. The FINAL is worth 40% and will cover the entire course material with greater emphasis on the material that you have not been tested on. The tests will be a combination of short questions and essay questions. 

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Important dates:

Exam1: Sunday 1/3/2026 (Lectures 1-)

Exam2: Sunday 5/4/2026 (Lectures )

Exam3: Sunday 3/5/2026 (Lectures )

Final Exam:  Monday 11/5/2026 (ALL Lectures) – 9:00-11:00

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Enrolled students:

1. BELQEES ALMUTAIRI.****/*
2. ABRAR ALHAJRI.******/*
3. HAWRAA HAMDAN.*/
4. GENAN ALQATTAN./
5. REEMIAH ALHULAILI./*
6. SARAH BONAJMAH./
7. RAHAF ALAJMI./*
8. ASMAA ALSHAIJY.*/*
9. SHAHAD ALOTAIBI.*/
10. ESMAHAN JAHAN.*/
11. NOUF ALRASHIDI.*/*
12. AFRAH ALSHAMMARI.***/
13. KHADIJAH DABAL./
14. RAGHAD ALRUQI.*/
15. HAYAT ALHARBI./
16. SARA ALADWANI./
17. BOSHRA ALRIFAI./

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Lecture 1: General Introduction

Lecture 1.5: Academic Communication

Lecture 2: History and Review (I)

Lecture 3: History and Review (II)

Video: Thomas Morgan & Fruit flies – Thanks to Reemiah Alhulaili

Lecture 4: The genome: the word and beyond

Lecture 5: Exploring the genome: workable pieces

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Lecture 5.1: 485_lec5.1_DNAExtraction

Lecture 5.2: 485_lec5.2_DNAQualityQuantity

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Lecture 6: DNA sequencing: the thing to the information

Sequencing methods videos:

– Maxam and Gilbert Sequencing (Thanks Althuraya Alaskar)

– Sanger Sequencing, V2

– Pyrosequencing, V2

– Illumina Sequencing, V2

– SOLiD Sequencing

– Ion Torrent Sequencing, V2 

– Oxford Nanopore Sequencing, V2

– PacBio Sequencing, V2

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Lecture 7: The sequence: Reading the reads

Sequencing strategies videos:

– Hierarchical Sequencing

– Whole-Genome Shotgun Sequencing (WGS)

– The race to the human genome

– Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH) (Thanks Althuraya Alaskar)

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Lecture 8: Stitching the sequences: Genome assembly

– Sequence Alignment (Abdulatif Alfulaij + Hafsa Aziz)

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Lecture 9: The meaning: Genome annotation

Lecture 10: Meaningful parts: coding regions

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Lecture 11: Functional annotation

RNAi (Abdulatif Alfulaij, Malak Alrasabiya)

CRISPR-Cas9 (Abdulatif Alfulaij), CRISPR-Cas9 (Malak Alrasabiya)

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Lecture 12 : Non-coding genomic elements

Lecture 13 : Genetic transfer

Lecture 14: Polymorphisms

Lecture 15: Population Genetics

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Class time and location

Mon, Wed – 9:30-10:45 (Room: 1st floor, SCI-S-123)

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Important dates:

Attendance and activity (5%)

Exam 1: Monday 6/10/2025 (15%)

Exam 2: Monday 27/10/2025 (15%)

Exam 3: Wednesday 19/11/2025 (15%)

Exam 4: Wednesday 10/12/2025 (15%)

Four exams and each is worth (15%). The lowest will be dropped. Therefore, the best three exams will count to your final grades (45%)

Report due: Saturday 20/12/2025 (10%) – send pdf by university email.

Presentation due: 15,17,22/12/2025 (10%)

Final exam: Monday 5/1/2026 12-2 (40%)

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Download the following file and use it as your report (File). Your report should be typed using Microsoft Word and updated every week. You should send a copy of your file EVERY Saturday before 6pm. The report should include (to the best of your ability) the following with respect to your organism:

1. Your paper’s title, journal, and year published.
2. The objective(s) of your paper.
3. The common and scientific name of your organism. Try to include the meaning of the scientific name.
4. The number of species under the genus of your organism.
5. The taxonomy of your organism.
6. A high-quality photo of your organism.
7. The life cycle of your organism.
8. The geographic distribution of your organism.
9. Unique (if any) physical, physiological, or biochemical characteristics your organism.
10. The biological sample used to sequence the genome.
11. The number of chromosomes (2n) of your organism.
12. A clipart picture (if available) of your organism. Visit (https://www.phylopic.org/) to obtain one.
13. The sequencing strategy.
14. The sequencing method(s).
15. The number of sequence reads.
16. The total amount of sequence (in Mb or GB) obtained.
17. The size of the genome (in Mb or Gb).
18. The sequence coverage (depth).
19. The number of contigs.
20. The number of scaffolds.
21. The average contig length.
22. The average scaffold length.
23. The N50 contig size.
24. The N50 scaffold size.
25. The size of the largest contig.
26. The size of the largest scaffold.
27. The GC content of  your organism’s genome.
28. The number of predicted genes. 
29. The % of the genome that is represented by genes.
30. The number of protein-coding genes. 
31. The number of rRNA genes.
32. The number of tRNA genes.

 Projects:

1. SHAYMAA ALKANDARI (Locusta migratoria, paper)./
2. BELQEES ALMUTAIRI (Cydia pomonella, paper)./
3. ABRAR ALHAJRI (Bombyx mori, paper).*******/
4. JOURI ALMUTAIRI (Danaus plexippus, paper).****/
5. AHMAD ALADEL (Rhodnius prolixus, paper).***/
6. MANAYER ALKHATEM (Acyrthosiphon pisum, paper).***/
7. REEMIAH ALHULAILI (Pogonomyrmex barbatus, paper).***/
8. FARAH ALHBIARH (Anopheles gambiae, paper).*****/
9. SHAIMAA ALAJMI (Aldrichina grahami, paper)./
10. NADIAH ALOTAIBI (Photinus pyralis, paper)./
11. BASHAIR ALHAJRI (Trypoxylus dichotomus, paper).*/
12. ALTHURAYA ALASKAR (Apis mellifera, paper)./
13. ALYAA ALAJMI (Tribolium castaneum, paper).**/
14. AMEL AL-SHAYEA (Sarcophaga bullata, paper).***/
15. BATOUL JAMAL (Tenodera sinensis, paper)./
16. MUNEERAH ALDAITHAN (Gryllus bimaculatus, paper)./
17. MANAL AWALEH (Drosophila melanogaster, paper).*/
18. HAYA ALHINDI (Heliconius melpomene, paper).*/
19. Nourah Alrashidi (Solenopsis invicta, paper).*/

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Lecture 1: General Introduction

Lecture 1.5: Academic Communication

Lecture 2: History and Review (I)

Lecture 3: History and Review (II)

Video: Thomas Morgan & Fruit flies – Thanks to Reemiah Alhulaili

Lecture 4: The genome: the word and beyond

Lecture 5: Exploring the genome: workable pieces

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Lecture 5.1: 485_lec5.1_DNAExtraction

Lecture 5.2: 485_lec5.2_DNAQualityQuantity

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Lecture 6: DNA sequencing: the thing to the information

Sequencing methods videos:

– Maxam and Gilbert Sequencing (Thanks Althuraya Alaskar)

– Sanger Sequencing, V2

– Pyrosequencing, V2

– Illumina Sequencing, V2

– SOLiD Sequencing

– Ion Torrent Sequencing, V2 

– Oxford Nanopore Sequencing, V2

– PacBio Sequencing, V2

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Lecture 7: The sequence: Reading the reads

Sequencing strategies videos:

– Hierarchical Sequencing

– Whole-Genome Shotgun Sequencing (WGS)

– The race to the human genome

– Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH) (Thanks Althuraya Alaskar)

---

Lecture 8: Stitching the sequences: Genome assembly

– Sequence Alignment (Abdulatif Alfulaij + Hafsa Aziz)

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Lecture 9: The meaning: Genome annotation

Lecture 10: Meaningful parts: coding regions

---

Lecture 11: Functional annotation

RNAi (Abdulatif Alfulaij, Malak Alrasabiya)

CRISPR-Cas9 (Abdulatif Alfulaij), CRISPR-Cas9 (Malak Alrasabiya)

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Lecture 12 : Non-coding genomic elements

Lecture 13 : Genetic transfer

Lecture 14: Polymorphisms

Lecture 15: Population Genetics

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To Do:

• Learn the different forms of communication in science.
• Learn the different forms of printed scientific communication and their levels of scientific details.
• Learn the process of publishing scientific papers.
• Learn the difference between scientific journals and news journals.
• Make a folder on your desktop named “485 material” to save the files related to the course.
• What is the common name of your organism? Send your instructor the common name of your organism.
• Do you know what your organism looks like? Download a high quality photo of your organism.
• Visit the wikipedia page of your organism. Send a link of the page to your instructor.
• Learn to do a mindful search for genome papers using keywords and search engines.
• How do I know that a scientific journal is a good journal?
• Can you search for the genome sequence paper of your organism?
• Did you find the same article that your instructor assigned to you?
• Download the pdf of your article into your folder.
• Print your article and keep it with you everyday.
• Download the supplementary files of your paper into your folder.
• DO NOT print your supplementary material.
• Identify (1) the journal that your paper was published in, (2) the publisher, (3) year published, (4) authors, (5) volume, (6) issue, (7) doi.
• How many individuals authored your paper?
• Circle the name of the first author.
• Circle the name of the last author.
• Was your paper authored by a consortium?
• Why genome papers are authored by many authors? 
• How many words are used in the title?
• Circle the following words in the title if present: genome, sequence, organism name.
• What is the common name of your organism?
• Is the common name of your organism present in the title?
• What is the scientific name of your organism?
• Is the scientific name of your organism present in the title?
• When titles include scientific names and when titles include a common name?
•  Does the title of your paper reveal the objective of the study?
• Read the abstract and locate the objective sentence.
• Does the abstract of your paper contain an introductory sentence?
• Can you locate the methods sentence(s) in the abstract of your paper?
• Can you locate the results sentence(s) in the abstract of your paper?
• Does the abstract of your paper highlight the significance of the study?
• Can you identify the major components of you scientific paper (Abstract, Intro, M&M, Results, Discussion, and Refs)?
• In the introduction of your paper, locate the summary paragraph of the study and the detailed objectives (if present).
• Can you from the introduction of your assigned paper find general information of the organism under investigation?
• Make a list of the general information regarding your organism that you extracted from the introduction?
• Are there any information regarding the number of chromosomes and genome architecture of your organism in the introduction?
• What is the source of DNA used to sequence your organism?
• What is the sequencing method(s) used in your assigned paper?
• Make sure that you understand all sequencing methods and specifically the methods in your paper.
• Send links of YouTube videos of the sequencing methods (your choice) to your instructor.
• Identify the sequencing strategy used in your paper
• Send links of YouTube videos of the sequencing strategies to your instructor
• Identify wether the sequencing single-end or paired-end sequencing was performed in you paper.
• What is the sequence coverage or sequence depth in your paper
• What is the total number of reads of your genome?
• What is the number of contigs in your genome assembly?
• What is the number of scaffolds in your genome assembly?
• What is the N50 contig of your genome assembly?
• What is the N50 scaffold of your genome assembly?
• What is the size of the largest contig?
• What is the size of the largest scaffold?
• Send a draft of your powerpoint presentation to your instructor.
• What is the number of predicted genes in your organism’s genome? 
• What is the number of operons in your organism’s genome? (if reported and applicable). 
• What is the GC content of  your organism’s genome? 
• What is the average gene size in your organism’s genome? (mention minimum and maximum).
• What % of your organism’s genome is represented by genes?
• What is the average number of exons per gene  in your organism’s genome?
• What is the average number of introns per gene  in your organism’s genome?
• What is the gene density in your organism’s genome?
• How many rRNA genes are present in your organism’s genome?
• How many tRNA genes are present in your organism’s genome?
• What % of your organism’s genome is represented by repeat elements?
• What % of your organism’s genome is represented by simple repeats?
• What % of your organism’s genome is represented by tandem repeat elements?
• What % of your organism’s genome is represented by psuedo-genes?
• What % of your organism’s genome is represented by transposable elements?
• What % of your organism’s genome is represented by LINE elements?
• What % of your organism’s genome is represented by SINE elements?
• Send your final summary of data collection Excel file (Fall2020_genomic_data_YourName).

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Data collection (YourName_485_data)

Presentation template (PresentationTemplate_485)

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Suggested reading material

My Genomics teaching style: Laying a string NOT filling a vessel.

“What is a genome?” by Aaron David Goldman1 and Laura F. Landweber

Evolution of DNA Sequencing by Jonathan Eisen

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Figures, photos, and graphs in my lectures are collected using google searches.  I do not claim to have personally produced the material (except for some). I do cite only articles or books used. I thank all owners of the visual aid that I use and apologize for not citing each individual item.  If anybody finds the inclusion of their material in my lectures a violation of their copy rights, please contact me via email.

hhalhaddad@gmail.com

Class time and location

Mon, Wed – 9:30-10:45 (Room: 1st floor, SCI-S-194)

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 Projects:

1. Reem Alsayegh (Tuatara, Paper).*/
2. Saad Almutairi (Asian vine snake, Paper)./
3. Omar Rashdan (Green anole lizard, Paper).*/
4. Fatmah Alsahly (Australian dragon lizard, Paper).*/
5. Dana Altaher (King cobra, Paper)./
6. Narjes Aleissa (Habu, Paper).*/
7. Nutaila Almahfudhi (Tiger Rattlesnake, Paper)./
8. Belqees Almutairi (Anguid lizard, Paper).*/
9. Duaa Shaher (Leopard gecko, Paper)./
10. Sara Alwohaib (Guatemalan Beaded Lizard, Paper).*/
11. Amna Alrashid (Burmese python, Paper)./
12. (Organism: Common Lizard, Paper)./

Class time and location

Sun, Tue, Thur – 12:00-12:50 (Room: SCI-S-119)

 

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Projects:

Group 1: Felis catus, Presentation:

1. Bedour Almutairi, Paper, Sup.material.**/
2. Dalal Almayas, Paper, Sup.material./
3. Sarah Alresheedy, Paper, Sup.material.*********/
4. Noor Khanafer, Paper, Sup.material./

Group 2: Canis familiaris, Presentation:

1. Ghaleya Aldhafeeri, Paper, Sup.material.*****/
2. Asmaa Alghanem, Paper, Sup.material.*/
3. Zenab Bahman, Paper, Sup.material.****/
4. Fatemah Alhusain, Paper, Sup.material./

Group 3: Equus caballus, Presentation:

1. Maryam Alhajri, Paper, Sup.material.***/
2. Shahah Alkharafi, Paper, Sup.material.*/
3. Haya Alshammari, Paper, Sup.material.*/
4. Rawan Abdulaziz, Paper, Sup.material.*/

Group 4: Bos taurus, Presentation:

1. Rana Chami, Paper, Sup.material.*/
2. Shaha Farhan, Paper, Sup.material./
3. Shouq Alhazaa, Paper, Sup.material.*********/
4. Belqees Almutairi, Paper, Sup.material.******/

Group 5: Camelus sp., Presentation:

1. Nazek Haydar, Paper, Sup.material./
2. Lin Ataya, Paper, Sup.material.*/
3. Hajer Alshammari, Paper, Sup.material./
4. Fatmah Abdullah, Paper, Sup.material.*/

 

Class time and location

Mon, Wed – 9:30-10:45 (Room: SCI-S-218)

Important dates:

Exam 1: Monday 4/4/2022

Exam 2: Wednesday 11/5/2022

 All Presentations due: Wednesday 1/6/2022-6pm

Final Exam: Monday 13/6/20222 – 8:00-10:00

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* Paper tasks

* General organism info

* Following instructions

* Presentation tasks

@ Did exceptional work

Projects:

1. Carica papaya (Nusrat Jahan): paper, sup. material, presentation: .***@/
2. Vitis vinifera (Fatemah Alshaikh): paper, sup. material, presentation: .*/
3. Citrullus lanatus (Loulwa Alsalali): paper, sup. material, presentation: .*/
4. Cucumis melo (Shekha Alshemeri): paper, sup. material, presentation: .***/
5. Hevea brasiliensis (Abdullah Alshamali): paper, sup. material, presentation: .*/
6. Dalbergia odorifera (Batoul Shakhi): paper, sup. material, presentation: .*/
7. Durio zibethinus (Amnah Alshammari): paper, sup. material, presentation: .*@/
8. Prunus mume (Lama Alhajeri): paper, sup. material, presentation: .*/
9. Prunus persica (Mlehah Almurtaji): paper, sup. material, presentation: .@/
10. Pyrus bretschneideri (Razan Alsejari): paper, sup. material, presentation: .*@/
11. Rubus occidentalis (Lulwah Alsenan): paper, sup. material, presentation: .*@/
12. Eriobotrya japonica (Sheimaa Ali): paper, sup. material, presentation: .*/
13. Theobroma cacao (Kawthar Akbar): paper, sup. material, presentation: ./

 

Projects:

1. Clonorchis sinensis (Sarah Zakzak): paper, presentation: SaraZaqzaq_485./
2. Echinococcus multilocularis (Hanan Alshuraian): paper, presentation: HananAlshuraian_485.*/
3. Schistosoma haematobium (Ali Ahmad): paper, presentation: AliAhmad_485.*/
4. Schistosoma japonicum (Dalal Alnisof): paper, presentation: DalalAlnisof_485./
5. Schistosoma mansoni (Arwa Khalil): paper, presentation: ArwaKhaled_485./
6. Ancylostoma ceylanicum (Kaled Yacob): paper, presentation: KhaledYacob_485.**/
7. Ascaris suum (Nora Alsaeed): paper, presentation: NoraAlsaeed_485./
8. Brugia malayi (Hajar Alhajeri): paper, presentation: HajarAlhajiri_485./
9. Loa loa (Mahdi Ghaedi): paper, presentation: MehdiGhaedi_485./
10. Necator americanus (Mutlaq Alobayed): paper, presentation: MotluqAlobuied_485.***/
11. Trichuris trichiura (Abrar Alsharaf): paper, presentation: AbrarAlsharaf_485./
12. Eisenia fetida (Ahmad Dashti): paper, presentation: AhmadDashti_485.**/

Projects:

1. Moniliophthora perniciosa (Dalal Alzabi): paper, presentation: Dalal_485./

2. Chinese Auricularia (Shaza Alabdulhadi): paper, presentation: ./

3. Périgord black truffle (Nourah Abuadel): paper, presentation: Nourah_485./

4. Sword-belt Mushroom (Fatmah Muqeem): paper, presentation: Fatmah_485./

5. Shiitake mushroom (Arwa Khalil): paper, presentation: .*/

6. Schizophyllum commune (Mai Almarzooq): paper, presentation: mai_485./

* Paper tasks

* Videos

* General organism info

* Presentation tasks

Projects:

1. Moon Jellyfish (Aisha Cender): paper, presentation: aishacender_485.****/

2. Sea Anemone (Bdoor Abouabbas): paper, presentation: None.****/**/

3. Coral (Natalie Dorra): paper, presentation.**

4. Sea Cucumber (Sara Alashqar): paper, presentation: sara alashqar_485.**/

5. Sea Urchin (Shahd Alshuhab): paper, presentation: ShahadAlshehab-485.*****/*/

6. Tunicate (Abdulaziz Shayea): paper, presentation: Abdulaziz_485./

7. Lancelet (Abdulatif Alfulaij): paper, presentation: Abdulatif_485.***/

8. Sea Lamprey (Kafiah Alenezi): paper, presentation.********

9. Whale Shark (Aishah Alfailakawi): paper, presentation: AishaAlfailakawy_485.*/

10. Siamese Fighting Fish (Loulwa Mohammad): paper, presentation: Lulwa_485.***/*/

11. Barred Knifejaw (Aminah Alenezi): paper, presentation: AminaAlenzi-485.*/

12. Cavefish (Raghad Alrefaei): paper, presentation: Raghad-485.*/

13. Tilapia (Noah Mohamed): paper, presentation: Noah_485.*/

14. Coelacanth (Nashmeiah Alshammari): paper, presentation: Nashmeiah_485.**/

15. Northern Pike (Eiman Alsayegh): paper, presentation: EmanAlsayegh_485.***/**/*

16. Icefish (Heyam Qamhiya): paper, presentation.**

17. Snakehead (Hafisa Albadi): paper, presentation: HafsaAlbadi_485./

18. Croaker (Sheimaa Ali): paper, presentation: SHeimaaALali.******/*/

19. Dragonfish (Ayah Alattar): paper, presentation: AyahAlattar_485.***/**/

20. Puffer fish (Fatima Ali): paper, presentation: None.**/

21. Chinook Salmon (Mallak Alrasabiya): paper, presentation: MallakSaleh_485./

22. Black Rockfish (Sara Alsrayea): paper, presentation: SaraAlsrayea_485.*/

23. Channel Catfish (Muneerah Alsabah): paper, presentation: Muneerah.H.AlSabah catfish.*******/**/**

24. Ocean Sunfish (Mohamed Abdellatif): paper, presentation: None.**/**/**

 

Projects:

Afnan (Pepper1, Pepper2, AfnanKhaled_485)

Anwar (Lettuce, AnwarAlarbash_485)

Zahraa (Cabbage, ZahraaHasan_485)

Abeer (Tomato1, Tomato2, AbeerAli_485)

Fatima (Carrot, FatimaHaidar_485)

Nehaya (Potato, Nehaia_485)

Amna (Sugar Beet, AmnaAbdullah_485)

Amal (Cucumber1, Cucumber2, AmalAlotaibi_485)

Muneera (Eggplant1, Muneerah_485)

Bader (Pumpkin1, Pumpkin2, Presentation)

Nadine (Asparagus1, Asparagus2, NadineOsama_485)

Nada (Cauliflower, NadaAlhadidi_485) 

Fall 2019

Group 1: Popular insects

(Nouf: Argentine Ant, Muneera: Bee, Habiba: Butterfly, Baty: Longhorned Beetle, Maryam M: Cockroach)

Presentation: 485_Insects

 

Group 2: Farm birds

(Fajer: Turkey, Maryam: Pigeon1 Pigeon2, Fatima A: Red Junglefowl, Sara: Duck, Shrouq: Ostrich1 Ostrich2)

Presentation: 485_Farmbirds

 

Group 3: Reptiles

(Fatma G: Giant Tortoise, Fatma A: Green Anole Lizard, Zainab: Komodo Dragon, Fatima J: Crocodilian, Hanan: Snake)

Presentation: 485_Reptiles

 

Group 4: Edible fish

(Noor: Salmon, Haneen: Rainbow Trout, Shouq: Tuna, Haya: Sardine, Aisha: Sea bass)

Presentation: 485_EdibleFish

 

Group 5: Exotic mammals

(Hana: Giant Panda, Shaikha: Koala, Bashayer: Platypus, Amna: Kangaroo, Heba: Giraffe)

Presentation: 485_ExoticMammals

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Fall 2015:

Rana (E.coli), Albandary (Arabidopsis), Fahad (Zebrafish), Tasneem (C. elegans), Iman (phage), Fatemah (Corn), Shuroq (Mouse), Maliha (Fly), Sakina (Thermus, thermophilus, Oceanithermus profundus, Deinococcus radiodurans), Randa (Yeast), Ali (Human)