Genome sequencing projects are rapidly providing the genetic blueprint of organisms across the kingdoms of life. Biologists, who traditionally have focused their work on single genes and proteins, can now study genes and proteins across multiple organisms and conditions. Thus, in various forms, genomic sequences are catalyzing our abilities to understand biological systems at levels never before possible. However, new genomic technologies are generating overwhelming amounts of data that must be processed and analyzed. These massive amounts of data have created a critical need for theoretical, algorithmic, software, and hardware advances in storing, retrieving, networking, processing, modeling, analyzing, and visualizing biological and medical information. These needs are inspiring new concepts in computer science, such as genetic algorithms, artificial neural networks, computer viruses, synthetic immune systems, DNA computing methods, artificial life, and hybrid DNA gene chips. 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. However, interdisciplinary graduate programs in bioinformatics remain scarce and the pool of individuals with training in both computational and biomedical sciences is still exceedingly small. To meet this challenge, successful training programs in biomedical informatics have been developed at UCI. In particular, a training emphasis in bioinformatics has been established in the Information and Computer Science (ICS) Department; and, an interdisciplinary graduate training program in biomedical informatics has been formed with training faculty from ICS and the College of Medicine. These programs have been funded by University and Federal seed grants. Largely because of the success of these programs in increasing interdisciplinary research and training, a campus-wide Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics (IGB) was established earlier this year, and bioinformatics training tracks have been developed in other academic units. The Biomedical Informatics Program proposed here will consolidate these accomplishments into a comprehensive campus-wide training program administered by the IGB, and facilitate increased training and research interactions among the clinical and basic science researchers at UCI.
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