Welcome to the Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology!
|
The Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology is dedicated
to advancing the application of computational methods to cutting-edge
problems in biology. The new field of Bioinformatics and Computational
Biology is making critical contributions to diverse areas such as
disease detection, drug design, forensics, agriculture and environmental
sciences through the combination of biological analysis and
high-performance computing.
|
|
Research in the Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology addresses the integration of genomic, gene expression and clinical databases, the analysis of protein structure and function, models of molecular, cellular and metabolic processes, and models of regulatory networks. Departmental research also addresses fundamental computational methods with applications in bioinformatics, including computational geometry, image processing, pattern recognition, and data mining. Departmental research is supported through grants from NIH, NSF, USDA and other agencies.
The Department offers a variety of academic programs that address the growing demand for computational biologists. The Ph.D. and M.S. degrees are based on a fully articulated set of specialized graduate courses in Bioinformatics. A Certificate in Bioinformatics is available for professionals who wish to advance their career goals, but who may not have adequate time available to undertake a graduate degree program. On the undergraduate level, starting in the fall of 2007 a Bioinformatics minor is available. Students also benefit from the Department's long-term relationships with the Washington capital region's many federal research labs and biotechnology companies, leading to numerous opportunities for employment.
The Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology is based on the Prince William Campus of George Mason University.