Future Students

Bioinformatics

These are important puzzles whose solutions will tell us, for example, about the genes that make up our bodies, or about the diversity of bacteria on an undamaged coral reef and how these differ from species in polluted environments.

The computational tools created by bioinformaticists are helping to find the affected genes in people with genetic diseases; and computer modelling of proteins helps pharmacologists design new, life-saving drugs.

In short, life is a complex design which we do not yet fully understand; the role of bioinformatics is to help researchers organise and understand the mountains of pieces of this most difficult of puzzles.

In the Bachelor of Science (Bioinformatics) program you study a major sequence of units from both the biological sciences and computer science.

Level 1
At Level 1 you will select units from the foundation subjects: biology, chemistry, computer science and mathematics. These subjects establish a background in biological, chemical and computational methods, and the use of information technology.

Level 2
At Level 2 you choose one of two streams: Computational Biology, which emphasises the combination of computer science and the biosciences, and Mathematical Biology, which focuses instead on the combination of mathematics and the biosciences.

You will also take core units in the biosciences, bioinformatics and computer science/mathematics, and will select units from biochemistry, computer science, epidemiology, genetics, mathematics/statistics, microbiology, molecular biology and physiology. You may be able to choose further options in consultation with an adviser.

Level 3
In the Level 3 program you complete at least one of the streams begun at Level 2, with further units in the biosciences and computer science or mathematics.

Level 4 (Honours)
The Level 4 (Honours) program is open to you if you have completed the relevant major at a suitable standard. The focus of your Honours year is the completion of a bioinformatics project in one of the participating schools. While you will learn a lot about the area of your project, you will also be developing skills in research, time-management, problem-solving and communication skills that are in high demand from employers.

Career opportunities

By the end of the program you will have developed high-level skills in computer science and/or in mathematics and statistics, plus at least one of the biosciences. Each discipline opens a range of job opportunities, locally, nationally and worldwide. The combination of bioscience with computational and/or mathematical skills is also very valuable in that it enables you to undertake sophisticated modelling of biological systems, and then follow up with scientific experimentation. Thus, the program is also an excellent springboard for further studies at master’s or PhD level.