Bioinformatics Research Group

Home Today's events People Alumni Research:   Current projects Publications Software Events Graduate studies:   Prospective students Coming to Waterloo Courses Upcoming conferences Undergraduate studies:   Prospective students Bioinformatics club Undergraduate research assistants Lab information:   Mailing lists Lab location New user guide Computing info FAQs Booking system Photographs Contact: Bioinformatics Group School of Computer Science University of Waterloo 200 University Ave W Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1 Canada E-mail: Dan Brown

Graduate Studies in Bioinformatics Bioinformatics is a young, vibrant and growing area of research that applies computer science techniques to computational problems that arise in contemporary biological and medical research. These techniques are diverse and include algorithm design and analysis, database design and management, data mining, physical modeling, simulation studies, data structure design, software development, etc. There are now many conferences, journals and funding agencies that support research in bioinformatics. At Waterloo, research has focused on the following topics: Genome analysis: Gene prediction in eukaryotes and prokaryotes Genome duplication and rearrangement Horizontal transfer of genes Prediction of regulatory and other signals Evolutionary analysis: Phylogenetic algorithms Evolutionary modeling techniques Sampling from phylogenetic trees Fundamental algorithms: Sequence alignment and consensus Proteomics: Protein folding Protein secondary structure prediction We also study a variety of interesting algorithmic problems, inspired by biology. The Bioinformatics Research Group in the School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo consists of five faculty members: from Computer Science, Dan Brown, Forbes Burkowski, Ming Li and Ian Munro; and Brendan McConkey (cross-appointed from Biology), along with several postdoctoral fellows, research associates and graduate students. We are always interested in having new students join our group. Ideal candidates have a background in computer science, and also know a moderate amount of biology. Graduate study in our group leads to the M.Math in Computer Science (equivalent to an M.S., except that we are housed in Waterloo's Math Faculty), and then to the Ph.D. A few comments on our program: As we are housed in the School of CS, we really cannot accept students with no background in Computer Science, as they will require too much remedial study. Additionally, the requirements for an MMath include taking courses at the graduate level in CS outside of bioinformatics. We are very interested in students with a reasonable background in CS and substantial experience with biology as well. Our program is heavily research-oriented. We are not really appropriate for many prospective students seeking a way of re-directing their career into bioinformatics hacking. Part-time study is possible, especially for the M.Math, Essay option. However, it's not the best of ideas; part-timers can't involve themselves fully in the research environment of the CS school, and are also not eligible for financial aid. With that in mind, students interested in pursuing a graduate degree in computational biology or bioinformatics may contact one of the above faculty members. This is not, by any means, necessary, as we will be unable to evaluate you without your having applied to the CS school; it will be just as effective for you to simply apply directly to the School. For information about admission and financial support, please see the CS grad student admission information web page.

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