Genomic and other high throughput technologies in the biomedical sciences are generating overwhelming amounts of data that must be processed, analyzed, and interpreted. These massive amounts of data have created a critical need for theoretical, algorithmic, software, and hardware advances in storing, retrieving, networking, processing, modeling, visualizing, and interpreting biological and medical information. These needs continue to inspire new concepts in computer science, such as genetic algorithms, neural networks, computer viruses, and DMA computing methods. Because of these developments, computer science applications in the fields of biology and medicine showcase the latest advances in core computer science from hardware to software, from algorithms to databases, and from theory to user interfaces. This cross fertilization has enriched both fields and will continue to do so in the coming decades. To continue to meet these challenges, the UCI Biomedical Informatics Training (BIT) Program trains graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at the interface of the life and computational sciences for professional careers in bioinformatics and computational biology. The BIT Program, administered by the UCI Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics, integrates a first year Mathematical and Computational Biology Gateway Program with biomedical informatics training programs in the UCI Schools of Biological and Physical Sciences, Engineering, Medicine, and Information and Computer Sciences. This Program emphasizes interdisciplinary teamwork using a dual mentor approach involving interdisciplinary thesis research projects. Required core courses in mathematics, statistics, and computer science provide students with the computational tools required to address complex biological questions. Regular faculty/trainee meetings, quarterly reviews, and an annual mini-symposium of student projects stimulate interaction, inform faculty of progress, and foster group cohesion as well as interdisciplinary exchange of information among trainees. In summary, the BIT Program is producing a critically-needed generation of world class scholars who will develop new bionformatics and computational biology tools to solve fundamental problems in biology and medicine for the improvement of human health.
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