|
BIOINFORMATICS COURSE LISTING The Master of Science degree in Bioinformatics consists of 40-41 graduate hours comprised of required courses and electives drawn from a restricted menu. The program of study is intended to be a course-intensive experience requiring two years of full-time academic work, including a summer internship in the public or private sector between the first and second years. The internship is required of all students in the program and it may be counted as a 3 credit hour elective course. Thesis is an option but not a requirement for this degree. I. Internship The student is responsible for securing an internship offer from an academic, industry, or government institution which is a current or potential employer of bioinformatics professionals. For the internship to count towards the Master of Science degree in Bioinformatics, the student must obtain pre-approval from the Bioinformatics Program Committee before the start of the internship. An evaluation form will be sent to the employer at the end of the internship and the student must receive a grade of “Satisfactory” or better in order to fulfill the internship requirement of this degree. II. Courses 1. Required courses and seminars (28 semester hours): BINF 5341 Analysis and Modeling of Biological Structures BINF 5351 Introduction to Bioinformatics I: Basic Sequence Comparisons BINF 5352 Introduction to Bioinformatics II: Gene Finding and Genomic Comparison BINF 5354 Post-Genomic Analysis BIOL 5340 Structure and Function of Macromolecules STAT 5328 Introduction to Statistical Analysis MIT 5310 Fundamentals of Computers MIT 5314 Data Base Applications Plus 4 credit hours of seminars chosen from: BINF 5110 Biology Seminar for Bioinformatics BINF 5111 Chemistry Seminar for Bioinformatics BINF 5112 Computer Science Seminar for Bioinformatics BINF 5113 Mathematics Seminar for Bioinformatics 2. In addition, students will take a total of 12 or 13 semester hours chosen from the list of courses below, and they should take courses from lists b) and c) only after they have completed 18 semester hours in the program. No more than 6 hours from list b) can be counted towards the M.S. in Bioinformatics degree. a) Regular courses BIOL 5316 Biosystematics BIOL 5326 Advances in Immunological Concepts BIOL 5329 Physiology of the Bacterial Cell BIOL 5342 Synthesis and Degradation of Macromolecules BIOL 5343 Mechanisms of Cellular Toxicity BIOL 5344 Molecular Pathogenesis CHEM 5329 Contemporary Topics in Organic Chemistry CHEM 5339 Contemporary Topics in Biochemistry CHEM 5342 Physical Biochemistry CS 5334 Parallel and Concurrent Programming or MIT 5328 Applied Multiprocessing Computing (Only one of CS 5334 or MIT 5328 can count as an elective for the M.S. degree in Bioinformatics) CS 5336 Scientific and Program Visualization CS 5341 Advanced Computer Architecture CS 5350 Advanced Algorithms CS 5351 Interval Computations CS 5353 Topics in Emerging Computing Paradigms CS 5383 Topics in Software Assurance MATH 5330 Computational Methods of Linear Algebra MATH 5335 Techniques in Optimization MIT 5316 Web-Based Computing MIT 5328 Applied Multiprocessing Computing STAT 5336 Analysis of Categorical Data STAT 5386 Stochastic Processes STAT 5388 Multivariate Data Analysis STAT 5390 Nonparametric Statistics STAT 5391 Time Series Analysis STAT 5392 Statistical Computing All CS and MIT electives require prior approval from the Department of Computer Science before enrollment. b) Project/Internship courses. BINF 5353 Bioinformatics Internship BIOL 5302 Research in the Biological Sciences CHEM 5396 Graduate Research in Chemistry CS 5391 Individual Studies CS 5396/7 Graduate Projects MATH 5396 Graduate Research STAT 5396 Graduate Research c) Thesis courses. Six hours of thesis courses BINF 5398 and BINF 5399 may be taken in place of regular elective course in list a) above to count towards the M.S. in Bioinformatics degree. All University requirements for Master’s theses apply. d) A maximum of up to six credit hours of approved advanced undergraduate courses in biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, or statistics. Only undergraduate courses which are listed as applicable towards graduate degrees by the Graduate School can be counted towards the M.S. in Bioinformatics degree (see Graduate Catalog listings under individual Departments). Approval from the Graduate Advisor is required. 3. With the approval of the Bioinformatics Program Committee and the Graduate School, up to 6 semester hours of graduate work may be transferred from another accredited institution to replace equivalent courses listed in 1 and 2 a) above. Only credit hours that have not been counted towards a previously awarded degree are allowed to be transferred.
For Graduate Students Only
Bioinformatics (BINF)
5110 Biology Seminar for Bioinformatics (1-0) Reading and discussions of various topics in the biological sciences related to bioinformatics. Each student is expected to give at least one presentation during the course. Prerequisite: Department approval.
5111 Chemistry Seminar for Bioinformatics (1-0) Reading and discussions of various topics in Chemistry related to bioinformatics. Each student is expected to give at least one presentation during the course. Prerequisite: Department approval.
5112 Computer Science Seminar for Bioinformatics (1-0) Reading and discussions of various topics in computer science related to bioinformatics. Each student is expected to give at least one presentation during the course. Prerequisite: Department approval.
5113 Mathematics Seminar for Bioinformatics (1-0) Reading and discussions of various topics in mathematical sciences related to bioinformatics. Each student is expected to give at least one presentation during the course. Prerequisite: Department approval.
5341 Analysis and Modeling of Biological Structures (2-3) Introduction to the principles and methods used for the three-dimensional structural determination and simulation of macromolecules of biological interest. Molecular recognition, conformational analysis, and molecular dynamics; ligand design and docking; and modern methods for protein structure determination. Prerequisite: Department approval. (BINF 5341 is the same course as CHEM 5341.) Laboratory fee required.
5351 Introduction to Bioinformatics I: Basic Sequence Comparisons (2-3) Theory and practice of sequence analysis, with an emphasis on nucleic acid comparisons and homologue determination. Includes understanding and use of Internet and computational tools with both public sequencing databases and experimental data. Prerequisite: Department approval. (BINF 5351 is the same course as BIOL 5351.) Laboratory fee required.
5352 Introduction to Bioinformatics II: Gene Finding and Genomic Comparisons (2-3) A continuation of BINF 5351 with an emphasis on the analysis of protein structural information. Also includes gene annotation and whole genome comparisons. (BINF 5352 is the same course as BIOL 5352.) Prerequisite: Department approval. Laboratory fee required.
5353 Internship in Bioinformatics (0-0-6) Practical on-the-job experience as an intern academic, industry, or government institution which is a current or potential employer of bioinformatics professionals. No more than 3 hours of BINF 5353 may count toward a graduate degree. Prerequisite: Department approval.
5354 Post-Genomic Analysis (2-3) The extraction and confirmation of information from entire and partially assembled genome sequences. Includes the design and use of DNA arrays, SNP’s and applied proteomics in the identification and verification of expressed genes of interest. (BINF 5354 is the same course as BIOL 5354 and STAT 5354.) Prerequisite: Department approval. Laboratory fee required.
5398 Thesis (0-0-3) Initial work on the thesis. Prerequisite: Department approval.
5399 Thesis (0-0-3) Continuous enrollment required while work on thesis continues. Prerequisites: BINF 5398 with a grade of “B” or better and department approval.
Course descriptions for other required and elective courses may be found in the Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Computer Science (CS and MIT), and Mathematical Sciences departmental listings of this Graduate Catalog.
|