About the Georgia Tech Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Genomics:

The Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Genomics at Georgia Tech has been formed to facilitate collaborative research in the interdisciplinary area of bioinformatics and computational genomics and to create an intellectual environment for interdisciplinary education and training of the MS and PhD students in Bioinformatics. The Center is comprised of the Georgia Tech faculty with research interests in bioinformatics and computational genomics.

The field of Bioinformatics is becoming increasingly important at a time when an enormous wealth of genetic information brought by revolutionary techniques in DNA sequencing has to be efficiently used to answer biological questions. Research in genomics has been growing rapidly in molecular biology labs around the world. Bioinformatics is a strategic discipline at the frontier between Molecular Biology and Computer Science, impacting medicine, biotechnology, as well as society. For instance, about 5,000 human genes are thought to be possible targets in disease situations, using small-molecule drugs. Therefore, the contemporary drug-discovery paradigm, the R&D focus at pharmaceutical companies, is relying now heavily on bioinformatics research and analysis that deals with massive quantities of genomic data.

There is a significant challenge of identifying disease related genes and proteins. Modeling a cell as a system requires knowledge of the whole set of its parts. A lot of work still has to be done in sorting out the details, the structure and evolution of the major cellular mechanisms responsible for processing the genetic information stored in DNA.

There is an increasing demand for scientists with advanced training in Bioinformatics. Professionals in this area should have a thorough knowledge of Molecular Biology, Mathematics and Statistics as well as Computer Science.

When Georgia Tech established a professional Master of Science in Bioinformatics degree program in 1999 it was the first of its kind in the United States. In this interdisciplinary MS program the graduates are taught with the equal strength to diverse scientific disciplines and are well prepared for further work in industry or academy. Since 1999 more than 100 students have already graduated with the Master degree in Bioinformatics.

In 2003 Georgia Tech started a formal PhD program in Bioinformatics. A simple requirement that a student has to have an interdisciplinary thesis committee promotes further the interactions and collaborations between program faculty.

Visibility of the Center is high on international level as the Center has been organizing the bi-annual International Conferences in Bioinformatics at Georgia Tech. These conferences as well as regular seminars and distinguished lectures of eminent researchers in the field attract a large number of Georgia Tech researchers as well as our colleagues from Emory University, University of Georgia and Georgia State University.