Bioinformatics degree questions.

[Tarun]

Hi,
I'm a BSc Computer Science graduate, and I have just finished a PG
Diploma course in Bioinformatics in India. I have got a project from
Astra Zeneca India, involving the Hidden Markov Method. My cousins have
settled in Canada, and I'm hoping to immigrate there, in the near
future. I would like to do an MSc in Bioinformatics in Canada.

However, I have not been able to get either an up-to-date information
on courses, or I just come across programs in Bioinformatics, that are
only availabe in the Molecular Biology field. Can you please point me
in the right direction. I would appreciate it a lot.

Please take time to visit an Indian online forum for Bioinformatics
called Bimatics. It is a Yahoo! Group. It is the largest in India. Any
contributions to the forum are welcome. It would benefit a lot of
people, if contributions, even in terms of advice, would help
tremendously.

Cheers,
Tarun Lewis
Kevin Karplus wrote:
> In article <u9sbe9cjkld407 at corp.supernews.com>, Kenneth Blaine wrote:
> > I'm thinking about going back to school to (eventually) get a PhD
in
> > bioinformatics.  My original degree was in a non-technical field
(business
> > administration) so I've got quite a lot of makeup work to do before
I can
> > consider applying to grad school.   The way that I look at it, I
have three
> > options I could follow before I apply:
> >
> > 1.  Take only the standard courses necessary for entrance into a
graduate
> > bioinformatics program.
> >
> > 2.  Get a (second) undergraduate degree in molecular biology.
> >
> > 3.  Get a (second) undergraduate degree in molecular biology and
take the
> > extra year of courses required for a masters in molecular biology.
> >
> > (Note:  I do plan on taking several extra courses in mathematics
and
> > computer science, in any case.  But I can take more of them if I
don't have
> > to worry about filling (Lib Arts&Sci) requirements for the 2nd
degree.)
> >
> > So, which of these options would give me the best chance at getting
into a
> > good graduate program?   Or are they all pretty much on par?
Also, how
> > difficult is it to get into a bioinformatics program?  I've read
that many
> > universities are having a hard time keeping professors in the field
- that
> > many are being lured away by the private sector.  Has this caused
it to be
> > significantly more difficult to be admitted to a bioinformatics
program than
> > to a regular molecular biology program?
>
> There are a lot more molecular biology programs than bioinformatics
> programs, and the necessary training to get into them is not as broad
> (though possibly deeper).  You can look at
>
> 	http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/centers/cbe/FAQ.html
>
> to answer a number of your questions about what training UCSC expects
> for its incoming bioinformatics students.
>
> Getting into UCSC (one of the premier programs in bioinformatics,
> though I say it as shouldn't) is quite difficult---we only accepted
> about 20 out of 60 applicants this year, and we expect the number of
> applicants to soar once we actually have an approved grad program.
>
> Getting a grad degree in molecular biology is great, but it won't be
> enough to get you into our bioinformatics program.  We want to see a
> substantial programming background and some statistics, as well as a
> fair amount of molecular biology.  We've found it takes too long to
> teach someone how to program---that is a skill that need to be
> obtained BEFORE entering a grad program in bioinformatics.
>
> --
> Kevin Karplus 	karplus at soe.ucsc.edu	http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus
> Professor of Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa
Cruz
> Undergraduate Director, Bioinformatics
> (and grad director-to-be)