Department of Health Informatics

Bioinformatics

OBJECTIVES 

In a world where biology has become an information science due to high throughput experimental methods like next generation DNA sequencing, BIOINFORMATICS has emerged as a field of research to meet the challenge of processing the big data produced by diverse experiments and understanding complex biological processes.  

Utilizing computer science and statistics along with biology, the field encompasses all aspects of life: From discovering our past through phylogenomics, to understanding the world of the living cell by elucidating biomolecular networks and biological pathways, to transforming 'omics data into insights about disease and ecological systems, bioinformatics is driving new research and shaping the future of agriculture, biotechnology, therapeutics and medicine.

Masters Program in Bioinformatics focuses on computational techniques and tools for data analysis, theoretical modeling of biological processes, and also design and development of biological tools and databases.

The program aims at researchers both from science and engineering fields who are interested in biotechnology, pharmacology, life sciences, or related industries, and who wish to broaden or upgrade their skills to follow recent breakthroughs and lead research in the area of Bioinformatics. The objectives of the Bioinformatics graduate programs are:

·        To educate graduates from different disciplines in the theoretical and practical aspects of bioinformatics

·        To meet the interdisciplinary graduate needs of the academia, industry, and the public and private sectors,

·         To foster and support interdisciplinary research in the field.

Bioinformatic Research Areas:

·   Bioinformatics

·   Genomics

·   Transcriptomics

·   Proteomics

·   Epigenetics

·   Interactomics

·   Protein Analysis and Structure Prediction

·   Next Generation Sequencing Technology

·   Comparative Sequence Analysis

·   Systems Biology

·   Text Mining and Information Extraction

Bioinformatics Full Time Faculty Members:

Health Informatics

·   Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yeşim Aydın Son (Chair of Health Informatics) 

·   Asst. Prof. Burçak Otlu 

·   Assist. Prof. Aybar Can Acar 

Affiliated Faculty http://ii.metu.edu.tr/affiliated-faculty

Adjunct Faculty   http://ii.metu.edu.tr/adjunct-faculty

PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

Program offers a master of science degree in Bioinformatics

Students who have never taken a programming language or statistic or  molecular biology and genetics  course,  must  firstly complete the scientific preparation program. Courses of this program are listed in the table below:

Scientific Preparation Courses:

·   BIN500/CENG 230 : Introduction to C Programming

·   BIN502/STAT 221 / BIN 502 :  Statistical Methods for Informatics

·   BIN595/ BIOL 317: Molecular Biology

·   BIOL 420  : Biochemistry

·    

Students who have successfully completed the Scientific Preparation Program can take part in the Bioinformatics Graduate Program. In this program, students must complete three compulsory courses, four elective courses, seminars and thesis.

Scientific Preparation Course

Courses

Bioinformatics program course list

WHO MAY APPLY?

Applicants holding (or who will have held before the start of the applied academic term) a bachelor’s degree (BA or BS) may apply to a Master’s program. 

Applicants should take the METU EPE (English Proficiency Exam), IELTS or TOEFL and ALES (Graduate Exam) exams before the application date.  

Foreign students should take IELTS or TOEFL and GRE or GMAT according to the department requirements.

* These minimum scores (especially ALES score) do not guarantee acceptance

** GRE exam score is accepted for Turkish students.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES 

Graduates of the M.S. Program in Bioinformatics will be supporting diverse applications of bioinformatics in academic and private institutions, hospitals and industry focusing biotechnology, biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences both in national and international platforms. Besides bioinformatics research career opportunities for bioinformatics professionals range from development of instrumentation and computer software for biological data collection, retrieval, analysis and interpretation, biological database design and management, computational analysis of biological data, and implementation of newly emerging bioinformatics tools in bio-industries.

LINKS

Department of Health Informatics

Bioinformatics

Contact for Admissions

Turkish Students: Hakan Güler | A Block, Z-11 | Tel: 0312 210 3743 | email: mhakang@metu.edu.tr

Foreign Students: Buket Barış | A-113 | Tel: 0312 210 7781 | email: bbaris@metu.edu.tr