Bioinformatics Programs in US

Bioinformatics Programs in the United States

Date Compiled: June 2006

University		Degrees		Department(s)			Degree Requirements	Sampling of Research Interests
Arizona State University		Professional MS with bioinformatics-genomics track		The Sloan Foundation of Computational Biosciences in the Department of Life Sciences			30 credit hours of courses, 6 credits of internship, and 6 credit hours of professional development or advanced study. 42 credit hours total.	Computational algorithms for the effective utilization of imaging modalities (e.g., PET) in the study of Alzheimer's Disease. The design of efficient, scalable algorithms for image deformation, reconstruction, and quantitative analysis (with Computer Science and Good Samaritan PET Center), parallel algorithms.
Baylor College of Medicine		PhD - Structural and Computational Biology and Molecular Biophysics, MD/PhD		Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences			PhD: Collection of program-specific coursework, graduate school core curriculum, lab rotations, qualifiying exam, thesis MD/PhD: first 2 years of med school (includes clinical clerkship), followed by grad school coursework, lab rotations, thesis completion finishing with final year of med school.	The faculty research activities include development of structural and computational techniques, protein design and engineering, biophysical chemistry of macromolecules, membrane biophysics, neuroscience and genome informatics,quantitative and physical approaches to molecular and cell biology, biophysics, genomics, proteomics, neuroscience, nanobiology, molecular design, drug design, and medicine
Baylor University		BS of Informatics w/ Bioinformatics major		Department of Computer Science, Biology Department			124 credit hours required including Humanities and Social Science, Computer Science and Biology, and Mathematics and Chemistry.	Unsupervised learning methods, automation of learning, especially in the applications knowledge discovery in science, such as bioinformatics and astrophysics; interplay among routing services, transport protocols, and information dissemination problem domains
Boston College		Ph.D. degree in Biology with Bioinformatics/Computational Biology track		Biology Department			Minimum curriculum for Ph.D. students consists of four Graduate Core Courses (BI611 Advanced Genetics, BI612 Graduate Biochemistry, BI614 Graduate Molecular Biology, BI615 Advanced Cell Biology, and BI616 Graduate Bioinformatics); five additional Biology-approved Graduate Elective Courses (e.g., BI500+, BI800+), at least three of which must be Graduate Seminars (e.g., BI800+); and a seminar on Responsible Conduct of Research and Professional Development, (BI880). Comprehensive examination, dissertation.	Study of genetic variations, human population and medical genetics (Prof. Gabor Marth), comparative genomics and gene regulation (Prof. Jeff Chuang), and computational RNA and protein structure predictions (Prof. Peter Clote).
Boston University		MS-Bioinformatics, MS		Department of Bioinformatics			MS: 32 credits required and internship. MD Track: 32 credists required and thesis. PhD: (Post-Bachelor's) - 64 credits required and exam (32 course credits, 16 research credits); (Post-Master's) 32 credits required (16 course credits, 16 research credits) and exam (For all: no lower than "B" in core courses)	Computational modeling of regulatatory and metabolic networks, docking, comparative genomics, protein design, genomic and proteomic biotechnology, microarray engineering and analysis, pharmacogenomics, structural biology, large scale modeling of biological systems, RNA, computational studies of cancer and neurological disorders and functional genomics, synthetic gene networks and molecular computing and genetics
Brandeis University		MS Bioinformatics, Graduate Certificate in Bioinformatics		Rabb School of Continuing Studies - taught by professionals in the field			MS: 36 credits; Certificate: 21 credits. All include core courses and courses in programming, scripting language and database management.	List of faculty and research at http://www.brandeis.edu/facguide/department?deptid=2
California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI		MS Degree program in Biotechnology and Bioinformatics		Biology Program			33-34 units total, bioinformatics emphasis (18 units (9 courses))	No specific research available on webpage
Canisius College		BS		Department of Computer Science			37 courses (128 credits) required. Full undergraduate curriculum.	Artificial Intelligence (Logic, Knowledge Representation, Reasoning, Natural Language Understanding, Robotics), Cognitive Science, Computer Science Education, Bioinformatics.
Cedar Crest College		BS Minor		Department of Biological Sciences			Biology, Genetics, Evolution, Biostatistics, 2 courses in Bioinformatics	Rare Plants, Neurophysiology, Microbial Pathogenesis, Viral Genetics, Evolutionary and Ecological Genetics
Columbia University		MA, PhD- both degrees in Biomedical Informatics with option of concentration in Bioinformatics		Department of Biomedical Informatics			MA: 30 credits required, oral exam; PhD: 60 credits, comp exam, dissertation, seminar presentation on research; an oral presentatiom; a dissertation.	Standards for encoding and sharing clinical guidelines, diabetes informatics, clinical data mining
DeVry University		BS in Biomedical Informatics		Technology - Biomedical Informatics			126 credits (largest concentration in Biomedical and Healthcare Informatics: 28 credits, Programming: 19 credits, Mathematics and Sciences: 16 credits)	No specific research mentioned.
Drexel University		Undergraduate minor program, MS-both degrees have concentrations in bioinformatics; PhD in Integrated Bioinformatics		School of Biomedical Engineering, Science & Health Systems-Center for Integrated Bioinformatics-			Undergraduate minor: 2 core classes and 2 senior research project courses, MS and PhD: No specific requirements available on webpage	Medical and biomedical sensors, Three-dimensional tissue engineering, Biomedical optics, Merging nanotechnology with biomedical applications, Limb prostheses.
Duke University		PhD in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (CBB)		Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy			Core classes, electives, exams, graduate seminars, rotations, and dissertation	Computational & discrete geometry, computational biology, spatial databases, robotics, developmental biology, list at http://cbb.genome.duke.edu/faculty
Eastern Michigan University		Both in bioinformatics: graduate Professional Science Master's, and a Graduate Certificate.		Mulitple participating departments: departments of Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science and Mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences, and the department of Management in the College of Business			M.S.:requires 34-36 credit hours of work; Certificate: requires 18 credit hours of course work spanning the fields that make up the Masters subjects. The certificate can be used as a gateway to the MS program for students who may not be certain they want the MS degree.	No specific research available on website
Florida International University		MS, PhD in Computer Science w/Specialization		Department of Computer Science			MS-15 credits of required CS classes and 15 electives or 9 electives, and option of thesis; PhD- 6 required CS classes, 6 electives, 24 dissertation credits, 2 credit hours of seminar	Pattern Discovery in sequences and structures, micro-array data analysis, primer and probe design, phylogenetic analysis, image processing - conducted by BioRG
Florida State University		MS/PhD in Biomedical Mathematics		Department of Mathematics			MS: 36 hours of coursework and seminars PhD: MS degree requirements, comp exam, dissertation	Mathematical physiology, protein structure determination, human brain mapping, DNA topology
Foothill College		Associate Degree, Career Certification		Biological and Health Sciences Division (BIO/Health divisions) in conjunction with the Computer Technology and Information System (CTIS) Division			53 credits for Associate Degree, 49 for Certificate	N/A
George Mason		MS, PhD, graduate Certificate in Bioinformatics		School of Computational Sciences			MS: 31 credit hours including research project or master's thesis. PhD: 72 credits total, 48 course credits and 24 credits of thesis research. Certificate-15 credit hours	Integration of genomic, gene expression and clinical databases, protein structure and function analysis, models of cellular and metabolic processes, and models of microbial consortia. Research in the Program addresses fundamental computational methods with applications in bioinformatics, including computational geometry, image processing, pattern recognition, and data mining
George Washington University		BS in Computer Science or Biology w/ concentration in Bioinformatics or Dual BA in CS and Biology, MS in Genomics and Bioinformatics with tracks in Biology or CS		Multiple participating departments			BS: 130 credit hours required along prescribed curriculum, Dual BA: 133 credit hours required Biology MS: non-thesis option, 35 credits required with a final project. Thesis option: 32 credits plus thesis. CS MS: 38 credits required.	Phylogenetics, information systems, genomics and proteomics of HIV and cardiovascular disease
Georgetown University		MS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology with specialization in Biotechnology and an emphasis in Bioinformatics		School of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology			An individualized program. As well as Biotechnology program courses, students can take courses in bioinformatics, computer science, and also intern in bioinformatics. This internship can be in academia or in industry. 6 core classes. .	No specific research available on webpage
Georgia Institute of Technology		MS, PhD in Bioinformatics		MS-School of Biology, PhD Bioinformatics-multiple participating schools			MS-37 credits, three semesters of specific courses in biology, mathematics, computer programming, and chemistry. PhD Bioinformatics-36 course credits, 24 research credits	DNA and protein sequence analysis, comparative genomic analysis, systems analysis and structure analysis, and prediction.
Grand Valley State University		M.S. in Medical and Bioinformatics		School of Computing and Information Systems			36 credits and internship in partnering workplace organizations, non-thesis	Computer industry analysis, Information systems policy in management, Mobile data exchange / XML
Harvard and MIT		MS Medical Informatics		Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology			Core courses and thesis requirement	Information processing in medicine, communication in medicine.
Harvard and MIT		PhD		Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology			Core courses and thesis requirement, interdisciplinary courses among both schools.	No information available on specific research interests
Indiana University at Bloomington		MS bioinformatics, PhD minor bioinformatics		School of informatics, Department of Biology			MS: 36 credits, 6 core credits, 6 credits bioinformatics, 18 credits of electives, 6 credits project/thesis/internship; PhD minor: 12 credits	Sequence pattern recognition (transcriptomics, regulatory region prediction and characterization, splicing site recognition, gene prediction); comparative genomics (complete genome comparisons, biolinguistics, phylogenetic analysis); structural genomics (DNA, RNA and protein secondary structure prediction related; frament assembly in DNA sequencing; systems biology (biological networks, proteomics, protein annotation); models of evolution (quantitative or population genetics, molecular evolution, biochemical theories for the origin of life); molecular modeling and drug design.
Indiana University/Purdue University - Indianapolis		MS		School of Informatics with Depts of Biology, Computer Science, Biochemisty and Molecular Biology and other departments in the School of Medicine.			MS: 36 credits, 6 core credits, 3 credits bioinformatics, 21 credits of electives, 6 credits project/thesis/internship	See IUB (above)
Iowa State University		PhD		Program in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology with multiple participating departments			Courses in genetics, molecular biology, mathematics and statistics, computer science, with research rotation in first year, interdisciplinary thesis research project completed the second year. 72 credits are required.	Intelligent searching, data warehouses, analytical tools, high performance computing in genomics
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHBSPH)		Master of Health Science (MHS)		School of Public Health: Departments of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology and Biostatistics			Students are required to take 16 credits each term in their first year, including at least 12 credits outside of Biostatistics. A minimum of 64 credits are required to graduate and includes a culminating project, and a web portfolio.	Mechanisms of genetic and epigenetic gene regulation in plants, human genetics, statistical genetics, survival analysis, clinical trials, epidemiological studies, bioterrorism surveillance, microarray data analysis, biomarker discovery and validation, statistical methodology, longitudinal data analysis, genomics, environmental epidemiology.
Johns Hopkins University		Pre- and post-doctoral candidates in computional biology		Institute for Biophysical Research			Candidates for graduate school apply	Protein and RNA: folding, energetics, and dynamics, computational mechanics of large proteins, conformational statistics of biological macromolecules, applied mathematics, computational biophysics of membrane systems, biomolecular modeling, compuational protein design and ligand binding
Johns Hopkins University		MS in Bioinformatics (option to complete MS in Bioinformatics degree fully online)		Hopkins Advanced Biotechnology Studies, Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the Whiting School of Engineering			A total of 11 courses to complete degree requirements: five core courses, four concentration courses, an elective from bioscience and an elective from computer science. After completion of the core and concentration courses, students may choose an independent study project as one or both of their electives. Students have up to five years to complete the program.	No specific research available on webpage
Kean University		M.S. in Biotechnology w/ Bioinformatics Concentration		College of Natural, Applied and Health Sciences			38-42 credits, written research project paper, presentation of research in a public forum.	No specific research available on webpage
Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences		Professional Masters of Bioscience, PhD Computational and Systems Biology		PhD: KGI and the Claremont Gradu			MS: Two academic years of work, with internship over the summer and master's paper, PhD: 72 units of coursework, dissertation	optimization of yeast recombinant protein production; genomic, proteomic, and cell-based microarray technologies; DNA amplification and analysis methods; microfluidics; molecular and computational analysis of regulatory networks; rational design of multidrug HIV therapy, and structural genomics
Marquette University/Medical College of Wisconsin		MS		Departments of Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science, Bio, and Electrical Engineering (MU), Bioinformatic and Biomedical Research (UWM)			Thesis: 24 credit hours required plus thesis (6 credit hours). Non-thesis: 36 credit hours. Core courses required for both options.	Systems identification applied to neuromuscular control of movement; cybernetics and learning; rehabilitation robotics; design of computer-based medical instrumentation; telehealth; neurofuzzy computing; computer modeling of biomedical systems, image processing and analysis, modeling of pulmonary hemodynamics, integral equations; listed at http://gp.bbc.mcw.edu/people/faculty.html.
Medical University of South Carolina		MS, PhD		Department of Biometry and Epidemiology			MS: 5 core courses and 6 required courses for bioinformatics track; PhD: 7 core courses, three lab rotations with different mentors, Basic Written Examination, Advanced Written Qualifying Exam and all students have to demonstrate proficiency in at least one computer language.	The group research activities are focused on theory identification and algorithm development with particular emphasis on Systems Biology, S-Systems modeling of dynamic processes such as metabolism and regulatory networks, machine learning, including artificial intelligence, namely artificial neural networks, Bayesian networks and exploratory analysis by mutivariate statistics.
Michigan Technical University		BS		Department of Biological Sciences			74 credits of bioinformatics work and mandatory cooperative work experience required.	Immunology, microbial toxicology and biochemistry, molecular diagnostics
Missouri Southern State University		BS Concentration in Bioinformatics		Department of Computer Science			124 total credit hours (66 credit hours combined of core computer science and biology courses)	No specific research available on website
New Jersey Institute of Technology		Certificate		Department of Continuing Professional Education			4 courses (12 credit hours) - 3 core, 1 elective	No specific research available on website
North Carolina State University		MS (non-thesis), PhD, Minor (for students pursuing a Ph.D. in Functional Genomics or another discipline; there is no minor offered for M.S. degrees)		Program in Genomic Sciences			MS: 33-36 credit hours: 15 Genomic Sciences core, 9 Bioinformatics Core, 9 credits of electives, with oral exam, non-thesis degree. PhD: 72 credit hours: 15 Genomic Science, 9 Bioinformatics Core, 48 Bioinformatics and thesis.	Using genomics tools to identify quantitative trait loci, developmental quantitative genetics and molecular evolution, molecular population and evolutionary genetics, application of Information Theory to genetics, fungal molecular genetics, nucleic acid design, molecular biology and biophysics
Northeastern University		MS		Department of Biology's Program in Bioinformatics with multiple participating departments			32 credits required. Core courses with electives, internship required, some background in basic disciplines can be filled in with extra work.	Genetic pathway of red blood cell formation, sensory physiology of microorganisms, methods of theoretical and computational analysis of biological macromolecules, development of computer front-end bioinformatics application for visualization and analysis, future electronic information systems for scientific research literature, understanding the molecular basis of transmembrane signaling by G protein-coupled receptors, nanoparticles, quantum systems
Northern Illinois University		MS Specialization, Certification		Department of Biological Sciences			30 credits required for MS with specialization, 16-17 required for certificate	Arabidopsis BLAST searches, enzyme rate studies, similarity matrices, Rice chromosome studies
Northwestern University	MS		School of Engineering and Applied Science-Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science			3 core courses, seminar sequence, five electives, 3 units of independent research with one quarter spent in an industrial setting, thesis required.
Ohio State University		PhD (program encourages all applicants to go for a Ph.D.;MS automatically received by all all students who pass their general exams (approximately after their second year) )		Biophysics Program's Division of Computational Biology and Molecular Biophysics	Programs are highly individual and are worked out with your advisor in contract form. Before the end of the tenth quarter of residence, the student must complete both the written preliminary exam and the general exam. Thesis defense is required for completion of degree.			Assembly and function of protein complexes, neural networks, function of solute transporters in health and disease.
Oregon Health & Sciences University		All degrees in Biomedical Informatics: MS (research) and MS (professional), PhD; Graduate Certificate		Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology	MS research: 60 credit hours required, with 48 credits of course work distributed among four core areas, and 12 credits of thesis research. MS professional: 52 credit hours required with Capstone Project. Six credit on-campus requirement; PhD: Core classes (48 hours), advanced research methods (12 hours beyond minimum in MS), Cognate-area outside informatics (12 hours), qualifying exam, symposium (3 hours), doctoral seminar (12+ hours, 2 hrs/term), dissertation research (48 hours), mentored teaching (up to 6 hours); Certificate: Eight courses (3 credits each) required.			Areas of research include electronic medical records, information retrieval, information needs assessment, human-computer interfaces, consumer health informatics, telemedicine, clinical epidemiology and consortium-based research
Portland State University and Oregon Health & Science University		Five year, dual degree program: B.S. Computer Science degree and a Master of Biomedical Informatics degree at the end of five years		PSU's Computer Science Department and OHSU's Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology	B.S. degree in Computer Science from PSU requirements and Master of Biomedical Informatics from OHSU requirements. See course page.			No specific research mentioned on webpage. Faculty listing/research: http://www.cs.pdx.edu/facultyIndex.php
Ramapo College		BS		School of Theoretical and Applied Science	128 credits, 65 core credits with option for Bioinformatics research with faculty or internship in industry			Client-server applications, peptide synthesis methodology, nucleic acid research, molecular genetics and physiology, database design
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute		BS, MS in Applied Science w/Concentration in Bioinformatics, PhD in Biology with Concentration in Bioinformatics, Certificate in Bioinformatics		School of Science's Department of Applied Science and Biol