Minor in Bioinformatics
This minor is available to students registered in a 120 credit hour Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) program.
Much of the current research in the biological sciences today requires the handling of “Big Data”. Nowhere is this need more apparent than in the area of genomics, where next generation sequencing techniques are capable of producing, at a relatively low cost, hundreds of gigabytes and even terabytes of DNA sequence data. There is a need for people who have an understanding of molecular and evolutionary genomics (the structure and function of genes and genomes) and the skill set needed to analyze the data. A Minor in Bioinformatics provides students with an introduction to molecular genomics and to some of the informatics tools currently available.
To qualify for a Minor in Bioinformatics, students must take all Required Courses and enough courses from the Selectives list to total 18 credit hours above the 2000 level that count uniquely toward the Minor (e.g. do not also count toward a Major or Honours degree). In addition all students must complete the prerequisite 1000-level courses.
Pathways to obtaining the Minor in Bioinformatics have been designed for students majoring in Computer Science, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Biology, Marine Biology, Statistics and Neuroscience. Students in other programs may obtain the Minor by fulfilling the general requirements below, but should be aware that most of the courses listed have prerequisites, and that they may need to complete a number of courses in addition to the required and selective courses.
Irrespective of path, students with a Bioinformatics Minor will end up having taken a common set of courses in Computer Science, Calculus, Statistics, Genetics, and Molecular Biology or Biochemistry. All students will also receive training in use of ACENET.
Minor in Bioinformatics – General requirements
Coordinator: Dr. Daniel Ruzzante (daniel.ruzzante@dal.ca)
Students must take all required courses and enough selective courses to total 18 credit hours. Courses (required or selective) cannot be used toward the Minor if the course is being counted toward a Major or Honours degree.
Required prerequisite courses (don’t count toward minor)
- CSCI 1105.03: Introduction to Computer Programming (or CSCI 1100.03)
- CSCI 1110.03: Introduction to Computer Science (or CSCI 1101.03)
- BIOL 1010.03: Principles of Biology Part I or BIOL 1020.03: Introductory Biology I
- MATH 1000.03: Differential and Integral Calculus I or MATH 1215.03: Life Sciences Calculus
Required courses
Selectives
PATHWAY for Biochemistry & Molecular Biology students
Coordinator: Dr. Claudio Slamovits (claudio.slamovits@dal.ca)
Students must take all required courses and enough selective courses to total 18 credit hours. Courses (required or selective) cannot be used toward the Minor if the course is being counted toward a Major or Honours degree.
Required prerequisite courses (don’t count toward minor):
- CSCI 1105.03: Introduction to Computer Programming (or CSCI 1100.03)
- CSCI 1110.03: Introduction to Computer Science (or CSCI 1101.03)
- BIOL 1010.03: Principles of Biology Part I or BIOL 1020.03: Introductory Biology I
- MATH 1000.03: Differential and Integral Calculus I or MATH 1215.03: Life Sciences Calculus
Required course:
Selectives:
* Cannot be used toward the Minor if the course is being counted toward a Major or Honours degree
PATHWAY for Biology or Marine Biology students
Coordinator: Dr. Daniel Ruzzante (daniel.ruzzante@dal.ca)
Students must take all required courses and enough selective courses to total 18 credit hours. Courses (required or selective) cannot be used toward the Minor if the course is being counted toward a Major or Honours degree.
Required prerequisite courses (don’t count toward minor):
- CSCI 1105.03: Introduction to Computer Programming (or CSCI 1100.03)
- CSCI 1110.03: Introduction to Computer Science (or CSCI 1101.03)
- BIOL 1010.03: Principles of Biology Part I or BIOL 1020.03: Introductory Biology I
- MATH 1000.03: Differential and Integral Calculus I or MATH 1215.03: Life Sciences Calculus
Required courses:
Selectives:
* Cannot be used toward the Minor if the course is being counted toward a Major or Honours degree
PATHWAY for Computer Science students
Coordinator: Dr. Robert Beiko (beiko@cs.dal.ca)
Students must take all required courses and enough selective courses to total 18 credit hours. Courses (required or selective) cannot be used toward the Minor if the course is being counted toward a Major or Honours degree.
Required prerequisite courses (don’t count toward minor):
- CSCI 1105.03: Introduction to Computer Programming (or CSCI 1100.03)
- CSCI 1110.03: Introduction to Computer Science (or CSCI 1101.03)
- BIOL 1010.03: Principles of Biology Part I or BIOL 1020.03: Introductory Biology
- MATH 1000.03: Differential and Integral Calculus I or MATH 1215.03: Life Sciences Calculus
Required courses:
Selectives:
- STAT 2080/MATH 2080.03: Statistical Methods for Data Analysis and Inference
- CSCI 2134.03: Software Development *
- CSCI 3110.03: Design and Analysis of Algorithms I *
- CSCI 4180.03: Intro to Computational Biology and Bioinformatics *
- CSCI 4181.03: Bioinformatics Algorithms *
- BIOC 4403.03: Genes and Genomes (Highly recommended)
* Cannot be used toward the Minor if the course is being counted toward a Major or Honours degree
PATHWAY for Statistics or Mathematics students
Coordinator: Dr. Hong Gu (hgu@mathstat.dal.ca)
Students must take all required courses and enough selective courses to total 18 credit hours. Courses (required or selective) cannot be used toward the Minor if the course is being counted toward a Major or Honours degree.
Required prerequisite courses (don’t count toward minor):
- CSCI 1105.03: Introduction to Computer Programming (or CSCI 1100.03)
- CSCI 1110.03: Introduction to Computer Science (or CSCI 1101.03)
- BIOL 1010.03: Principles of Biology Part I or BIOL 1020.03: Introductory Biology
- MATH 1000.03: Differential and Integral Calculus I or MATH 1500.06 X/Y: Calculus)
Required courses
Selectives
- CSCI 2134.03: Software Development (Highly recommended)
- CSCI 4180.03 :Intro to Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
- CSCI 4181.03 :Bioinformatics Algorithms
- BIOC 4403.03: Genes and Genomes (Highly recommended)
PATHWAY for Neuroscience students
Coordinator: Dr. Tamara Franklin (tamara.franklin@dal.ca)
Students must take all required courses and enough selective courses to total 18 credit hours. Courses (required or selective) cannot be used toward the Minor if the course is being counted toward a Major or Honours degree.
Required prerequisite courses (don’t count toward minor):
- CSCI 1105.03: Introduction to Computer Programming (or CSCI 1100.03)
- CSCI 1110.03: Introduction to Computer Science (or CSCI 1101.03)
- BIOL 1010.03: Principles of Biology Part I or BIOL 1020.03: Introductory Biology I
- MATH 1000.03: Differential and Integral Calculus I or MATH 1215.03: Life Sciences Calculus
Required courses:
Selectives: