Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Program in Biomedical Sciences (PIBS), Bioinformatics

The University of Michigan Bioinformatics Graduate Program builds a strong foundation for Master’s and PhD students through comprehensive course offering, research training and mentoring. Students in our program take courses in advanced math, modeling, statistics, computer programming, machine learning, informatics, comprehensive courses in introductory biology, genomics, proteomics, clinical informatics, environmental health, and much more. They are encouraged to take advantage of the enormous research and teaching resources across U-M. Our students have an abundance of research opportunities in many subject areas under the mentorship of our 130 affiliated faculty members of the Center for Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics (CCMB). These faculty are from U-M Medical School, College of Engineering, College of Literature, Arts and Sciences, School of Public Health, School of Nursing, and School of Information. In 2023, the Bioinformatics Graduate Program maintains a student body of 87 PhD students, and over 120 Master's students. They are mentored by the 44 DCMB faculty and the 130 CCMB faculty. Faculty members with biological and more quantitative expertise are both well represented. The Bioinformatics Graduate Program was created in 1999 and is housed in the Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics (DCMB). Research Areas: Bioinformatics offers an extensive range of research opportunities, from applications for clinical medical problems and specific diseases to computational work on synthetic biological systems. There are very active groups in: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Genomics, regulatory genomics and epigenomics. Protein structure, proteomics, and alternative splicing. Multi-“omics” integrative bioinformatics Systems biology and networks analysis Biomedical data science, translational bioinformatics and pharmacogenomics Methodological development in computational biology Applications to complex genetic diseases 4D Nucleome Single Cell Analysis SignalImage Processing and Machine Learning Bioinformatics has had NIH supported training grants since 2005. Our students are eligible for a wide range of other training grant support related to more specific areas of research, such as genomics or cancer proteomics. Program Requirements Coursework Students are required to take courses in each of the following areas: Introductory Bioinformatics Computing & Informatics Probability & Statistics Molecular Biology Bioinformatics 602 (Journal Club) taken once in the first year. Bioinformatics 603 (Journal Club) taken once; students present papers for discussion Research Responsibility and Ethics course (PIBS 503) One Advanced Bioinformatics course offered or cross-listed by the Bioinformatics Graduate Program One additional Advanced Bioinformatics course in any program