Master of Science in Bioinformatics
Introduction
From the academic year 2007-2008, the programme is transformed to a two-year initial Master of Science in Bioinformatics programme. It is offered in English, although some of the courses can be followed in Dutch.
Here, you can obtain a nice printable brochure of the programme: English version or Dutch version.
Curriculum
Reorientation module (27 stp)Addition to the previous education, to meet the beginning requirements of all following courses. The POC recommends a module (that can be composed of courses from different submodules) to the student, that can be completed with optional courses (from the submodule ‘Supplement reorientation’).Submodule Biology (23 stp)Submodule Statistics (4 stp)Submodule Mathematics (14 stp)Submodule Information Technology (13 stp)Supplement Reorientation (35 stp) |
General module (59 stp)The general module builds upon the elementary knowledge and skills, which students have gained in their previous education and in the reorientation module and integrates these in various bioinformatics courses using the interdisciplinary approach that is typical for the field.Submodule Biology (14 stp)Submodule Mathematical techniques (22 stp)Submodule Bioinformatics (23 stp)
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The first semester consists of a reorientation module. The steering committee of the programme will advise the content for the reorientation module to each individual student, based on his or her background and on the requirements of the courses further in the curriculum. The reorientation module is structured into a biology submodule, a statistics submodule, a mathematics submodule and an IT submodule. The individual content of a student's reorientation module can be any combination of courses from these different submodules, depending on his or her background. Students who have already acquired the required level of basic knowledge in one or more fields can complement their reorientation module with courses chosen from a restricted list.
The second and third semester consist of a general module, which is structured into a biology submodule, a statistics submodule and a bioinformatics submodule. This module builds upon the elementary knowledge students have gained in previous courses and in the reorientation module. All subjects in the general module use the multidisciplinary approach typical for bioinformatics. This approach is introduced at the very beginning of the programme through a teamwork where students learn to link the different disciplines on which bioinformatics is based. Students choose one optional course, which aims to broaden the curriculum with either "Religion" or, if the student has already taken up this or an equivalent subject, one other subject of free choice. The latter requires the approval of the steering committee.
The fourth semester consists of a Master's thesis, which aims at integrating all knowledge into scientific research work.
Here, you can take a look at the Dutch equivalent of the reorientation module, Dutch equivalent of the general module and at the model trajectory for a Bachelor in Engineering.
Future career
Bioinformaticians can find a job in the domain of “life sciences” in the broadest sense: the industry, the academic world, hospitals... The expanding need for bioinformatics in the biological and medical research ensures a large variety of job opportunities in fundamental and applied research. 60% of our graduates start a PhD after their graduation, mostly in research laboratories of the K.U.Leuven such as:
Faculty of Bioscience Engineering
Faculty of Engineering
Faculty of Medicine
Faculty of Sciences
University of Ghent
The other graduates are working in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry (20%), the services sector (13%) or the government (7%).
Pharmaceutical and biotech industry
One of our graduates shares his expericiences here (Dutch only!)
A graduate with a background in Bioscience Engineering and currently working at the Bioinformatics group of Devgen about her work there:
"As part of the bio-informatics group, my task consists of providing service and support to the Molecular Biology department at deVGen. This involves many research aspects: assist directly in the analysis and interpretation of biological sequence data, keeping track of current literature in order to respond quickly when a Bio-IT related issue is raised, implementation of new software tools or enhancement of existing ones, maintainance and optimization of the Bio-IT database structure, etc.
My task is pretty diverse but requires flexibility: you need to be able to quickly respond to requests and willing to (constantly) learn. As part of R&D, the work never gets boring as it is hardly ever repetitive."
A graduate with a background in Engineering and currently working at Altran Europe about her work:
"I am a consultant of Altran Europe. I chose this job because it allows me to work as a solution provider in diverse domains. My bioinformatics background allows me to work as a specialist for R&D challenges of bioinformatics in the pharmaceutics sector. Besides as a bioinformatician, I also work as a statistician, a data miner, and a project manager."
Reacties op de inhoud: Prof. Bart De Moor
Page Design: Janick Mathys
Last update: 2006/09/12
URL: http://www.esat.kuleuven.be/sista/GGS/index.html