The PhD Program in Bioinformatics was approved by the Boston University Board of Trustees in May, 1999. The Program has one overriding goal: to educate talented and highly motivated women and men for leadership in the post-genomic era. The Program provides unique interdisciplinary training in the science, engineering, medicine and ethics of twenty first Century cell biology. It includes some 50 faculty from five Schools and Colleges: The College of Arts and Science, the School of Dental Medicine, the College of Engineering, the School of Law, and the School of Medicine. Our teachings focus on the molecular biology and physics of the cell, and emphasize the use of advanced mathematics and computation.
The educational program offers industrial rotations, internships and grand rounds, in addition to courses that integrate biology with the information sciences and engineering. The program also includes training designed to sensitize students to the ethical and legal implications of emerging technologies.
The research program includes state of the art topics such as systems biology, computational modeling of regulatory 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. The program creates an exciting, dynamic environment in which students learn from each other as well as from the faculty. Click here for a list of student publications.
The Eighth Annual International Workshop on Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
The Eighth Annual International
Workshop on Bioinformatics and Systems Biology is being held from
June 9-11 at Lake Zeuthen near Berlin. This student-focused event
is part of a collaborative educational program involving the BU Graduate
Program in Bioinformatics, the International Research Training Group
(IRTG) in Berlin and the Joint Bioinformatics Education Program of
Kyoto University and University of Tokyo. It's been held since 2001
to provide doctoral students opportunities to present and discuss
their research objectives, approaches and results in the emerging
field of genomics, systems biology and bioinformatics. More info
coming soon!
Bioinformatics Program Receives $3.2
Million NSF Graduate Training Grant
The Program
in Bioinformatics recently received (July 2007) a five year IGERT
training grant from the National Science Foundation. The
IGERT or Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program
funds graduate student fellowships, at the level of $30,000 per year,
in support of interdisciplinary and innovative graduate education and
training, and international student exchange for collaborative research. The
Bioinformatics program was one of approximately 20 programs chosen
for funding from over 400 proposals in 2007. It is also one
of the few programs to receive two IGERT grants (the initial grant
was awarded in 1999). To find out more about available IGERT stipends
for PhD students entering the program in Fall 2008, click
here
The research theme for the IGERT grant is Biological Networks,
the study of the complex, multi-component systems, or networks,
that underlie the living cell. These networks are described and modeled in
terms of their components, component interactions, regulatory properties,
sub-networks or pathways, and system dynamics in steady-state and in
response to perturbations. Leading areas of research in the
Bioinformatics program where networks research has become important
include 1) interactions of proteins with DNA to regulate gene transcription,
2) biochemical pathways of metabolism, and 3) signaling pathways
for cellular response to hormones and other molecules which modify
activity and control early development.
For more information
on IGERT fellowships, click here.
NIH
Partnership
A limited number of fellowships are available
for participation in the NIH-BU partnership. The purpose of these
fellowships is to stimulate collaboration between BU faculty and
NIH intramural scientists, and to provide Bioinformatics students
with the opportunity to engage in research in experimental or clinical
laboratories on the NIH campus. NIH is considered to be the premiere
biomedical research establishment in the world. Applicants selected
as candidates for this program will be invited to interview at both
NIH and Boston University in February 2009.
MD
Track
This is a program designed to
train physician-scientists who will be leaders in applying and stimulating
the development of post-genomic technologies to clinical research
and the practice of medicine.
Upcoming Events
Remo Rohs, Ph.D. Seminar
May 16, 2008
4:00 PM in LSEB 103
HHMI Research Associate
Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics Columbia University