Genome Biology and Bioinformatics (Collaborative Program)
Contact | Courses | Faculty | Overview | Programs: DegreeLead Faculty
Medicine
Degree Programs Offered
Biochemistry – PhD
Cell and Systems Biology – PhD
Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry – PhD
Computer Science – PhD
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology – PhD
Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering – PhD
Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology – PhD
Medical Biophysics – PhD
Medical Science – PhD
Molecular Genetics – PhD
Overview
The recent elucidation of the genomes of many organisms has led to the appreciation that our knowledge of the function of the proteome and other "omes" of any given organism is far from complete. A wide range of computational, theoretical, biochemical, structural, cell biological and genetic approaches need to cooperate to establish the connections between sequence, structure and function. The Collaborative Program in Genome Biology and Bioinformatics addresses this need for cooperation with a coherent course of study that educates and trains doctoral graduate students across these diverse disciplines. The program serves as a model for a content-driven, trans-departmental unit that responds to the University's need to adapt to cutting-edge scientific developments.
The graduate programs listed above participate in the Collaborative Program in Genome Biology and Bioinformatics. Upon successful completion of the Ph.D. requirements of the host department and the program, students receive the notation "Completed Program in Genome Biology and Bioinformatics " on their transcript.
Contact and Address
Web: www.biochemistry.utoronto.ca/cgb/
E-mail: rob.reedijk@utoronto.ca
Telephone: (416) 978-0774
Mr. Rob Reedijk
Administrative Coordinator
Collaborative Program in Genome Biology and Bioinformatics
Department of Biochemistry
Room 5207, Medical Sciences Building
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8
Canada
Degree Programs
Doctor of Philosophy
Minimum Admission Requirements
- Applicants who wish to enrol in the collaborative program must apply to and be admitted to both the collaborative program and a graduate degree program in one of the collaborating departments. Since this is a PhD program, students must be registered in the doctoral program of one of the host departments and must be undertaking research with a significant genome biology and/or bioinformatics component under the supervision of a member of the program.
Program Requirements
- Complete a PhD thesis and any core courses as required by the student’s host department.
- Complete the interdepartmental courses or alternates (one of JBB 2026H/JBZ 1472H/JTB 2010H/JZB 1521H; and one of BME 1458H/CSC 2417H/CSC 2418H/CSC 2515H/JTB 2020H). These courses may be taken in place of some host department courses after a student obtains written permission from the host department.
- Participate in the seminar series and participate in collaborative traineeships in which an aggregate time of at least four months is spent in a collaborating laboratory, thematically working on an aspect of the thesis project but with a complementary method. The goal of the collaborative traineeship is ideally a joint publication between the two member labs.
Courses
Students should take one genome biology/"omics" course (Group I) and one computational biology/bioinformatics course (Group II) from the following:
Group I
JBB 2026H Protein Structure, Folding and Design
JBZ 1472H Computational Genomics and Bioinformatics
JTB 2010H Proteomics and Functional Genomics
JZB 1521H Molecular Evolution
Group II
BME 1458H Pattern Discovery Methods for Biomedical Engineering
CSC 2417H Algorithms for Genome Sequence Analysis
CSC 2418H Computational Structural Biology
CSC 2515H Machine Learning
JTB 2020H Applied Bioinformatics
Program Committee
Boris Steipe - MD, PhD/Biochemistry
Christopher Yip - BASc, MSc, PhD, PEng, Canada Research Chair/Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering,
Radhakrishnan Mahadevan - BTech, PhD, Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry
Nicholas Provart - BSc, MSc, PhD/Cell & Systems Biology (Director)
Michael (Mikhail) Brudno - BA, MSc, PhD/Computer Science
Belinda Chang - BA, PhD, Canada Research Chair/Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Jeremy Squire - BSc, MSc, PhD, JC Boileau Grant Chair in Oncologic Pathology/Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology
Elizabeth Tillier - PhD/Medical Biophysics
York Po-Chee Pei - MD, MSc, FRCP(C)/Medical Science
Andrew Emili - BSc, MSc, PhD/Molecular Genetics