Tools required for biological network analysis

I want to do biological network analysis using MATLAB for my PhD research work. Please guide me about the tools that will be required by me. Thank you!

Answer 1

[John D'Errico]

This is literally impossible to answer as is. It appears:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_network

that biological networks can encompass a large variety of things. So I would suggest that you provide a great deal more information. Even at that, problems can and will often diverge.

At some point, would you use some specific tool? For example, I find the symbolic toolbox terribly useful for my own projects and work. Do I need it though? Well, no. I can do any symbolic computation in theory on pencil and paper. And I even wrote a moderately simple symbolic computation toolbox anyway, just to see if I could. Might you also find it useful? Maybe. It depends on your skills, and the exact set of problems you will be solving in the future.

Similarly, I find tools like the optimization and curve fitting toolboxes terribly valuable as a general tool, but I can also write any part of those toolboxes myself if I needed them. In fact, I did literally write the equivalent of the curvefitting toolbox in MATLAB in the past, before the CFT ever existed. So I know my claim to be true. As well, I've written a complete optimization toolbox when I was using APL. So in theory, I don't need the optimization toolbox either. But I still have those toolboxes, and as I said, find them terribly valuable toolboxes. Actually, I would probably find the Global optimization toolbox useful too, at least to be able to answer questions about it. One day.

So to know exactly what tools you would need on a very vague problem is a complete stretch, especially if you don't really know MATLAB very well yet.

So I would advise that you start out by learning MATLAB. At some point it will become obvious what tools you need, and then get those toolboxes. Or sit down with your research advisor. That person should be able to tell you what tools you would need, since they should know your capabilities, and they should know what problem you are trying to solve.