What is Bioinfomatics?

Did you know humans share 98% of their genetic material with that of a chimpanzee, around 84% with dogs, 80% with mice and even 60% with bananas? Insane right? But of course, it need not be mentioned how different we are from animals or fruits. Bioinformatics, an interdisciplinary field of science, made these calculations achievable. This field involves developing techniques and tools for understanding biological data, which, more often than not, are large and complex. It involves Biometricians collecting, storing and analyzing biological data to understand biological processes, health and diseases, and other science sub-disciplines. Biometricians are usually scientists trained in biology, mathematics or computer science, with an increasing understanding of health and diseases. This field of science uses biology, mathematics, physics, computer programming, and statistics and could extend to pharmacy, molecular biology, genetics, etc, to interpret and analyze biological data.

Popular Bioinformatics Courses

Following are some of the well-known Bioinformatics courses:

Bachelors:

1. Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Bioinformatics
2. Bachelor of Technology (BTech) in Bioinformatics
3. Bachelor in Science - Honors (BSc Hons) in Bioinformatics
4. Bachelor of Engineering (BE) in Bioinformatics
5. Bachelor in Computer Science
6. Bachelor in Computational Biology

Masters:

1. Master of Science (MSc) in Bioinformatics
2. Master of Technology (MTech) in Bioinformatics
3. Master of Science - Honors (MSc Hons) in Bioinformatics
4. Master of Engineering (ME) in Bioinformatics
5. Master of Computational Biology
6. M. S. in Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics Research

Doctoral Courses:

1. Ph.D. in Bioinformatics
2. Ph. D. in Computational Biology
3. Ph. D. in Genomic and Bioinformatics Research

Best Universities for Bioinformatics

Below listed are some of the best universities for Bioinformatics:

S. No. University Name

Courses Offered
Rankings

1.  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mathematics and Computer Science; Computational Biology

QS World Ranking: 1

2. Harvard University

Biology General; Biomathematics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology

QS World Ranking: 4

3. California University of Technology

Biology, General; Mathematics and Computer Science

QS World Ranking: 15

4. Standford University

Human Biology; Medical Illustration and Informatics

QS World Ranking: 5

5. University of Cambridge

BA (Hons) in Mathematics, Computer Science; MPhil in Biological Science

QS World Ranking: 2

6. University of Oxford

MSc (Res) in Clinical Neurosciences

QS World Ranking: 3

7. Imperial College of London 

BSc (Hons) in Mathematics with Mathematical Computation; BEng in Mathematics and Computer Science

QS World Ranking: 6

8. University of California (Berkeley)

Biomedical/Medical Engineering; Biological and Biomedical Sciences

QS World Ranking: 10

9. University College of London 

BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Sciences

QS World Ranking: 9

10. Yale University

Genetics; Medical Clinical Sciences

QS World Ranking: 16