Programme overview
- Encompasses all aspects of biological information acquisition, processing, storage, distribution, analysis and interpretation
- Suitable for graduates from a broad range of disciplines, including biology, computer sciences, medicine, chemistry and chemical engineering
- Offers the opportunitiy to undertake an industrial placement
- Taught by leading international researchers who regularly publish in peer-reviewed journals including Nature, Science and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA
- Offers access to excellent facilities with £25 million investment in state-of-the-art laboratories and platform technologies, including functional genomic, bioinformatic and analytical infrastructure
Bioinformatics is a scientific discipline, which encompasses all aspects of biological information acquisition, processing, storage, distribution, analysis and interpretation. It has become a major field of academic research and an important focus for industry, particularly in the post-genomic era. Originally bioinformatics was concerned with the analysis of biological sequence data, such as that from the Human Genome project. However, as knowledge of the discipline advanced a series of ‘omics’ specialisms were identified. Genomics explores genome organisation and compares genomes; transcriptomics considers the levels of RNA expression in cells and how the conversion of DNA to proteins are regulated; proteomics examines the proteins in the cell; and metabolomics looks at the chemical dynamics of the cell. As the discipline continues to develop, it is likely that more distinct ‘omics’ will be identified. Find out more about the Centre for Bioinformatics and Medical Informatics.
The advanced knowledge of public data resources, programming, statistics, machine learning and general experience of applied informatics achieved at Exeter have enabled me to deliver notable success in my work as Senior Scientist for AstraZeneca’s Cancer Genetics Research Group.
Jonathan Dry, MSc Bioinformatics graduate.
Jonathan is currently part of the Cancer Bioinformatics team, integrated within the UK oncology research function at AstraZeneca, Alderley Park, Cheshire, UK. With a background in Biomedical Science from the University of Manchester, Jonathan joined the MSc Bioinformatics course at the University of Exeter for the 2001-2002 academic year, graduating with distinction. Through completion of an MSc project sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline, investigating sequence motif prediction of protease cleavage, Jonathan gained experience of project work in the pharmaceutical industry that has proven critical to his employment and career progression. Recent achievements include the introduction of novel approaches to gene expression analysis influential in biomarker discovery and personalised medicine strategies for a number of late stage drugs, for which Jonathan has achieved publication and has presented at a number of high profile conferences in oncology and informatics. Currently, Jonathan's key focus surrounds extracting clinically testable and biologically meaningful hypotheses from high dimensional data sets derived from pre-clinical disease models.
