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CS 482Computational Techniques in Biological Sequence Analysis

Units
0.50
Faculty
Mathematics
Subject
Computer Science

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 4 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: scheduled, 2 lecture sections. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

Computer science principles and algorithms in biological sequence analysis. Topics include algorithms for sequence comparison, for large-scale database search in biological databases, for sequence assembly, for evolutionary tree reconstruction, for identifying important features in DNA and RNA sequences, and underlying computational techniques for understanding strings and trees and for making probabilistic inferences.

Prerequisites

  • Complete all of the following
    • Must have completed the following:
      • CS341 - Algorithms (0.50)
    • Complete 1 of the following
      • Must have completed the following:
        • STAT241 - Statistics (Advanced Level) (0.50)
      • Earned a minimum grade of 70% in each of the following:
        • STAT206 - Statistics for Software Engineering (0.50)
      • Earned a minimum grade of 60% in each of the following:

Antirequisites

None listed.

Leads to

No course lists it as a requisite.

Winter 2027 sections

Enrolment from UW Open Data, which can trail Quest by up to two days. Instructors and rooms: Schedule of Classes.
SectionClassEnrolledMeets
LEC 00159140 / 70MW 16:00–17:20
LEC 701232028 / 9999Online or by arrangement

Resources

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Reviewed on UW Flow

86% liked it75% easy77% useful

From 14 ratings and 10 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • Easy in winter 2021 term. 3 assignments worth 10/15/15, midterm worth 25 and final worth 35. All assignments are coded in language of choice and can be done from reading lecture slides and pseudocode is often provided. Midterm/final had questions that built on previous assignments, so make sure to complete everything. Grading was lenient.

    May 2021 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • so the prereqs didn't have AI and the course outline mentioned "SOME AI knowledge necessary" but two of the assignments were basically "train an AI model to predict XYZ" and you're also pitted against other classmates to test the performance of your AI model (and if you actually want to do good you need to pay for Colab credits so basically pay to win). i dont know why the prof put such a big emphasis on AI and training models on the assignment when the actual course material is basically just an algorithms course. the assignments basically have very little to do with the actual course content as a result. the prof also wouldn't give us any practice problems to prepare for the final with…

    Apr 2026 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Prof: Pablo Millan Arias. This was his first offering of the course (and first time teaching I believe). Topics were very interesting, relevant, and enjoyable. A lot of things weren't set up yet during the course which shouldn't be a problem for later offerings. I found the assignments pretty fun and the professor was quite lenient on the deadlines and markings. The assignments could be somewhat vague, but considering it was the professor's first time teaching and how accommodating he was, I didn’t mind. The course consisted of 4 assignments, 1 midterm, and 1 final. The midterm was a little iffy, but he was able to offer bonus marks to fix things and has improved the format for the final.…

    Apr 2025 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Let me start by saying Professor Arias does seem to be trying his best to run the course well and listens to feedback, incorporating it as the term has gone on. However, the course still has massive improvements to make. The lecture content makes unreasonable leaps in knowledge for people with non-bio backgrounds, and the assignment specifications are very vague. The organization of the course needs a lot of work, as marking is late, Marmosets are set up way too close to assignment deadlines, and deadlines themselves are not spaced out well. I still believe that this course will get much better with upcoming terms but at the moment it has not been an enjoyable experience.

    Mar 2025 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Really interesting course; Prof Arias taught it W25 and delivers the content well (it's his research space). The assignments are very reasonable and the overall workload is easily manageable

    Jan 2025 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

21 posts and comments in 19 threads mention CS 482, January 2016 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Spring 2024

CS 482 3 points, 1 comment

u/Fun-Contribution-968: “Hey I was wondering how much previous bio knowledge is needed to take this course? And how heavy is the workload? I'm 3rd year CS with little bio knowledge, but the only prereqs listed are CS 341 and STAT 231, which I have done.”

u/ConsequenceNo3618: “I haven't taken CS 482, but based on ECE 608, it should focus on the computational part and not require much knowledge in biology. …”

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Winter 2023

how is cs 482? 4 points, 1 comment

u/destopk: “cant find a lot of info about the course, can someone tell me about the workload, learning experience etc? I have cs 346 and cs 456 + 1-2 more electives and didnt do too well in cs 341”

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cs workload 1 point, 12 comments

u/whenjob: “planning my f23, w24 terms, how heavy does this look - f23 - cs 343, ece 224, cs elective (cs 486/cs 482/???) w24 - cs 452, cs 458, non cs elective 3 courses each term, no more electives also - gonna be searching for a ng job in f23 so need to be able to accommodate for …”

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Fall 2022

Fall 2021

[deleted by user] 33 points, 14 comments

u/tendstofortytwo: “Yes, and yes.”

u/ffrosteh: “… Modeling CS 479 Neural Networks Course Description CS 480 Introduction to Machine Learning CS 482 Computational Techniques in Biological Sequence Analysis CS 484 Introduction to Computational Vision Course Description CS 485 Machine Learning CS 486 Introduction to Artificial …”

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Spring 2021

Bird CS 440-489 online suggestions 8 points, 3 comments

“As in the title, what are some CS 440-489 courses which are very bird online and can be taken as a 6th course? Prerequisites I already have are CS 341/350/370. Thank you.”

u/AccomplishedLettuce: “if you are taking some of these in the winter, CS482 was extremely birdy (just implementing some algorithms used in bioinformatics) with the caveat that its probably uninteresting unless you like genetics”

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Winter 2021

Signs you should drop a class? 17 points, 3 comments

“What are the biggest signs that you should drop a class? I know a few which are obvious: - a bad rating on ratemyprof - elective that's too much effort - prof that wants you to focus solely on their …”

[deleted]: “… I dropped CS 482 an hour after midnight because the first lecture was this large 2 hour recording, only available on Learn, and the first 10 minutes already had me bored out of my mind.”

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Fall 2020

Anyone here took any of CS 487/476/482?? 2 points, 3 comments

[deleted]: “Can anyone please just share their experiences with any of these 3 courses. They're not the most popular cs courses around (relatively speaking) so it's hard to find a lot of people talking about them. …”

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Spring 2020

Winter 2020

Fall 2019

Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

Undergraduate Calendar