Overview
Genomics and computational biology lie at the center of a rapid convergence of biomedical research fields. These disciplines take as their subject the entire genome (as DNA) or the entire material determined by genes (as RNA or protein), and ask about the origins, function, and interactions of the system as a whole. Questions like these, and other developments in this field, stimulate experimental laboratory work in genomics, as well as computational activities in bioinformatics. Studies in this field therefore require skills not only in the biological and biomedical areas, but also in computer science. Together, genomics and computational biology represent some of the most important new developments in science, and especially draw attention to cross-disciplinary areas of science.
The graduate program brings together the experimental approaches of "high-throughput" genetics and molecular biology, with the contemporary ability to manage and interpret the very large collections of data that result. As examples of areas of study one might explore:
- Genetic variation in the genome as a whole, and the evidence for the operation of natural selection.
- Automated systems for annotation of sequence data.
- Whole genome studies of defined phenotypes, in development, behavior, complex diseases, aging, etc.
- Extension of genome-wide expression studies from RNA to analysis of protein structure and function.
Thus genomics and bioinformatics together represent some of the most important new developments in science, and especially draw attention to cross-disciplinary areas of science.