Program Director: Dr. Leung

Thank you for visiting the UTEP Bioinformatics Program webpage. Our program was launched in 2001 with a grant from the Sloan Foundation and the support of the Departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Computer Science, and Mathematical Sciences. Currently, over 20 faculty and staff members from different disciplines contribute to this program by designing and teaching courses, leading research and curriculum development projects, establishing computational and experimental facilities, mentoring students, and program administration.

The interdisciplinary area of bioinformatics provides many unique opportunities for individuals with highly diverse backgrounds to learn from and collaborate with one another. Our ongoing research projects focus on the themes of biomolecular sequence analysis, ecology and phylogeny, bioinformatics curriculum enhancement, microarray and proteomics data analysis, and molecular structure and dynamics.

Our program offers a Master of Science degree in bioinformatics with the aim of producing graduates who are ready to serve as research, managerial, or technical professionals in various areas of bioinformatics. This Professional Science Master’s degree is developed as part of the national effort to enhance our future economy through promoting innovations in science and technology. Some graduates have joined industrial or research organizations, while others have chosen to pursue Ph.D. studies.


Along with the technological advancements in both the biological and computational sciences, bioinformatics has been growing fast in the past decade, providing increasingly important problem-solving tools in modern biomedical sciences, particularly in the areas of cancer research, drug discoveries, and systems biology. Working with my colleagues to develop bioinformatics at UTEP has been an exciting and rewarding experience. As more new students are joining our program, we continue to further broaden our interactions with other research areas of the biomedical and health sciences.

For more information about our program, please contact us at 
bioinformatics@utep.edu, send us the Information Request Form, or call us at (915)747-8484.

 

Dr. Ming-Ying Leung

Professor, Mathematical Sciences

Director, Bioinformatics Program