Major in Computer Science Concentration in Bioinformatics
The purpose of this interdisciplinary concentration is to prepare Computer Science students to enter science-intensive fields of bioinformatics, computational biology, computational chemistry and molecular modeling including genomics and proteomics. With the advent of the Human Genome Project, an explosion of genomics information has occurred, and databases such as GenBank and EMBL have grown at a rate that now requires storage, organizing and indexing of the information.
Questions of gene expression have led to computational biology, the process of analyzing genomic sequences and to the field of proteomics, the understanding of protein structure and function. The information obtained by computational biology and computational chemistry is used in the design of new drugs to treat a variety of diseases. Major drug and biotechnology companies are seeking people trained in bioinformatics.
In addition to the requirements for the Major in Computer Science:
BI 141 Introduction to Cellular and Molecular Biology 4
BT 378 Bioinformatics 4
CH 120 General Chemistry I* 4
CH 121 General Chemistry II* 4
CS 400 Database Design** 3
MA 201 Calculus II*** 4
MA 303 Mathematical Modeling 3
One course from:
BI 203 Genetics+ 4
BI 204 Microbiology 4
BI 306 Developmental Biology+ 4
BI 353 Tree of Life: Evolutionary Systematics 4
BI 371 Molecular Biology+ 4
BI 375 Virology+ 4
BI/CH 410 Biochemistry+ 4
BT 376 Biotechnology 4
+requires additional prerequisite courses beyond those required for the major and concentration.
*count as the two Lab Science courses required in the CS major Ancillary requirements.
**counts as one of the four CS major Elective requirements.
***counts as the additional level 200+ Mathematics course required in the CS major Ancillary requirements.