Overview
Nomination Process
Mandatory Courses
Other Requirements

Overview

The UCI interdisciplinary, Biomedical Informatics Training (BIT) Program for the training of graduate students is coordinated with existing graduate degree programs in the Schools of Information and Computer Sciences, Biological Sciences/Medicine, Physical Sciences, and Engineering.

Students join the BIT Program through the appropriate graduate training track in one of the participating campus graduate programs and fulfill the first-year requirements of that program track. At the end of the first year, students choose a thesis advisor in their primary training area and, upon acceptance into the BIT Program, a thesis co-advisor in the cross-discipline.

Students in the BIT Program take courses from a menu designed to ensure that, regardless of their primary expertise, each obtains a set of core skills appropriate for a career at the intersection of the life and computational sciences.

Overview - Nomination Process - Mandatory Courses - Other Requirements

Nomination process

Nominations for appointment of students to the BIT Program are received from training faculty in existing campus graduate programs. These applications are evaluated by the BIT Program Steering Committee.

Examples of Entrance Tracks into the Biomedical Informatics Training (BIT) Program. ME, Molecular Evolution track in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.; MBGB, Combined Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Biochemistry Program in the Schools of Biological Sciences and Medicine; CB, Chemical Biology track in the School of Physical Sciences; IBAM, Informatics in Biology and Medicine track in the School of Information and Computer Sciences.

 

Criteria for acceptance are based on the student’s undergraduate and graduate academic and research record, GRE scores, and reference letters. Students with superior research and academic records and GRE scores will qualify for acceptance. Upon acceptance into the program, a cross-discipline thesis co-advisor will be assigned to each student. In most instances, this will be an investigator with ongoing collaborations with the student’s advisor in areas related to the student’s thesis research.

Overview - Nomination Process - Mandatory Courses - Other Requirements

Mandatory courses

To be completed by the third year of training:

EEB 207 Quantitative Methods in Biology. Statistics for biologists. Emphasis on specific applications and underlying assumptions rather than on methods of calculation. Topics include experimental design, parametric and nonparametric methods, analysis of variance and covariance, and multiple regression. Open to graduate students only.

ICS 21: Introduction to Computer Science. Introduces fundamental concepts related to computer software design and construction. Develops initial design and programming skills using a high-level programming language (primarily C++/Java). Introduces useful computer-based tools for analysis, expression, and discovery.

ICS 184: File and Database Management. Database system architecture--data structures, storage structures, and data languages. Alternate approaches to database management systems: relational approach, hierarchical approach, network approach. Database security and integrity. Query processing.

ICS 277A: Representations & Algorithms for Molecular Biology. Introduction to computational methods in molecular biology. Computational approaches to understanding and predicting the structure, function, interactions, and evolution of DNA, RNA, proteins, and related molecules and processes.

ICS 277B: Probabilistic modeling of Biological Data. A unified Bayesian probabilistic framework for modeling and mining biological data. Applications range from sequence (DNA, RNA, proteins) to gene expression data. Graphical models, Markov models, stochastic grammars, structure prediction, gene finding, evolution, DNA arrays, single- and multiple-gene analysis.

ICS 277C Computational Systems Biology. Computational inference and modeling of gene regulation networks, signal transduction pathways, and the effects of regulatory networks in cellular processes, development, and disease. Introduction of required mathematical, computational, and data handling tools. Prerequisites: ICS 277A or 277B.

ICS 209: Seminar in Informatics in Biology and Medicine. Current research and research trends in bioinformatics and medical informatics. Forum for presentation and criticism by students of recently published research and work in progress.

BC 210: Medical Biochemistry. Lectures and seminars. Biological chemistry for first-year medical and graduate students. Presents the metabolism and molecular biology relevant to human health and disease that form the foundation of medical science for the next century

*Appropriate Electives:

*See the UCI General Catalog for additional course offerings in the Schools of Biological and Physical Sciences, the School of Medicine, and the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences.

Overview - Nomination Process - Mandatory Courses - Other Requirements

Other requirements

Responsible Conduct of Research. Graduate students are required to take a course on this topic.

Seminars. In addition to seminars presented in their home departments, the students in the training program are required to attend seminars sponsored by the UCI Institute of Genomics and Informatics. These seminars most often emphasize computational aspects of bioinformatics.

Student Research Presentations. Each month, two program students are required to present a formal seminar to the training grant faculty and their research groups. This provides the student with the skills necessary for communicating their work to an interdisciplinary scientific audience. Every student in the program is required to present at least one seminar each year.

Annual Trainee Mini-Symposium. Each year in the spring, the Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics sponsors a half-day symposium for the trainees to present their research results.

Attendance and Participation in National Meetings. Students are encouraged to attend national meetings to broaden their perspectives of current topics and methods in bioinformatics research. Support for those presenting their research results at the meeting will be given top priority.