Bioinformatics deals with discovering knowledge in biology or medicine present in large data sets. As such, it is an interdisciplinary science that is always in rapid flux as the methods and the nature of the data sets change.
As a student in this master's program, you'll learn the application of computers for storage, organizing, and analyzing the data. You'll also get a deeper understanding of statistics, probability, mathematics, and related disciplines to create the analysis algorithms and to make sense of the results.
The Department of Biology and the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences offer a M.S. in Bioinformatics through a joint Marquette University/Medical College of Wisconsin program. Bioinformatics refers to the field that deals with developing and improving methods and software tools for storing, retrieving, organizing and analyzing biological data. The goal is the extraction and recognition of new biological knowledge. Bioinformatics is a highly interdisciplinary field involving biology, computer science, engineering, applied mathematics, and probability and statistics.
Our program is designed to equip graduates with a distinctive blend of theoretical and computational skills and practical experience for employment in industry, research laboratories and institutions of higher education. This M.S. also can serve as a starting point for doctoral work through our Computational Sciences and Computer Science programs.
apply to the Bioinformatics program
Graduate Bulletin
For a thorough program description, which includes program requirements and courses, please visit the Graduate Bulletin.
What courses do students take in this program?
Students are able to complete their Master's degree with either a thesis + 30 credits (Plan A) or a shorter essay + 33 credits (Plan B).
Required Courses
For both options (Plans A and B), the following courses are required:
| BIOL 5201 | Genomics and Bioinformatics | 3 |
| BIIN 6000 | Introduction to Bioinformatics | 3 |
| COSC 6050 | Elements of Software Development | 3 |
| BIIN 6980 | Practicum in Bioinformatics | 3 |
| 3 credits of approved computer science courses | 3 | |
| 3 credits of approved biological science courses | 3 | |
| 3 credits of approved statistical science courses | 3 | |
| Total Credit Hours | 21 | |
In addition to the specified courses, the following are typical approved courses:
Approved BIOL courses*:
BIOL 5401 Advanced Ecology
BIOL 5806 Immunobiology
BIOL 8101 Protein Structure and Function
BIOL 8202 Principles of Eukaryotic Genetics
BIOS 16278 Functional Genomics (MCW)
PHYS 08230 Physiological Genomics (MCW)Approved COSC courses*:
COSC 5610 Data Mining
COSC 5800 Principles of Database Systems
COSC 6330 Advanced Machine Learning
COSC 6060 Parallel and Distributed Computing
BIOS 24150 BIIN in Omics Analysis (MCW)Approved STAT courses*:
MSSC 5720 Statistical Methods
MSSC 5750 Computational Statistics
MSSC 6010 Computational Probability
MSSC 6020 Statistical Simulation
MSSC 6250 Statistical Machine Learning
BIOS 04231 Statistical Models & Methods I (MCW)
BIOS 04232 Statistical Models & Methods II (MCW)
BIOS 04224 Biostatistical Computing (MCW)
BIOS 04224 Intr. to Stat. & Machine Learn. (MCW)
*Other courses can be approved in each category (BIOL, COSC, and STAT) by the co-director of the BIIN program.
Program Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to:
Faculty for the Bioinformatics Program
See individual faculty pages for more complete descriptions of their laboratories:
Lisa Petrella – Biological Sciences (MU)
Raul A. Urrutia (Co-Director) - Surgery (MCW)
Michael T. Zimmermann (Co-Director) – Genomic Sciences and Precision Medicine Center (MCW)
Mehdi Maadooliat - Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (MU)
Chelsea Cook – Biological Sciences
Tony Gamble – Biological Sciences
Krassi Hristova – Biological Sciences
Nate Lemoine – Biological Sciences
Chris Marshall – Biological Sciences
Naveen Bansal – Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
Jaihee Choi - Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
Anne Clough – Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
Daniel Rowe – Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
Elaine Spiller – Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
Jing Dong – Hematology and Oncology
Gwen Lomberk – Surgery and Pharmacology & Toxicology
Brian C. Smith – Biochemistry
James Verbsky – Pediatrics and Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
What jobs do students get after graduation?
Students who have graduated from this program work in laboratories in the pharmaceutical industry, biotech companies and academic settings. Several have continued on for Ph.D.'s in the area such as Ph.D. in Computer Science and Ph.D. in Computational Sciences.
Do you have a success to share with us? We'd love to hear from you. Please fill out this form and tell us about your new job, presentation, publication, or any other award or honor you've recently received. We will post your story here, on the Graduate School website and on the Marquette University Facebook and Twitter pages.
For more information, please contact the MSSC Co-Director, Mehdi Maadooliat
Ready to learn more about Marquette's bioinformatics graduate program? Request more information now or schedule an on-campus visit.
Tim Carter
(414) 288-7139
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