Cos 424: Interacting with Data

Cells are fundamental building blocks of living organisms. Cells contain a nucleus, mitochondria and chloroplasts, endoplasmatic reticulum, ribosomes, vacuoles, etc. The nucleus is important organelle because it houses chromosomes which include the DNA. The DNA is in essence a blueprint of the organism as it encodes information needed to synthesize proteins. Molecular biologists would like to understand how human biology works with the hope to treat diseases like cancer. One can look at simpler organisms such as yeasts to understand how human biology works. Admittedly, unicellular yeasts are very different from humans who have approximately 1014 cells. However, the DNA is similar across all living organisms. For example, humans share 99% of DNA with chimps. Naturally, we would like to know what information contained in that 1% of DNA is so critical to determine all the distinguishing features of humans, and we will try to answer this question.