Programme content
Bioinformatics has turned out to be one the most important research tools of life sciences in the 21th century. Both academia and industry are increasingly looking for computer-literate biologists with skills in software programming, data analysis and systems modeling. Indeed editing genomes of living cells can only be done meaningfully if we are first able to understand, model and make new predictions about them. Initially focused on mere sequence comparison, bioinformatics has now to deal with the flood of data coming out of next-generation sequencers (NGS) and other high-throughput instruments. Hence, supercomputers and artificial intelligence algorithms are increasingly becoming the new best friends of the life science researcher. In this context, the aim of the Master in Bioinformatics and Modeling is to allow young professional and students with a life science background (e.g., biologists and medical biologists, veterinary and medicine doctors, bioengineers) to acquire a solid training in computing techniques applied to biological data.
The "one-year" program
Composed of a maximum of 75 credits (60 base credits and up to an additional 15 credits of remedial, depending on the exact background), this program is designed so that all its credits can be acquired during a single academic year.
It features courses such as Biological Data Analysis covering programming in R together with machine learning techniques, for example to analyze transcriptomic data, practical courses such as Practical Genomics or Case Studies in Veterinary and Agronomical Sciences, computer science courses notably taught by the engineering faculty, such as Introduction to Databases or Data Structures and Algorithms, and finally more classical bioinformatics courses covering sequence comparison, 3D modeling of protein structure or phylogenetic inference.
This program is meant for students:
- having already acquired 60 credits at the Master's level in either Biochemistry and Molecular and Cell Biology, or Biology of Organisms and Ecology, or Oceanography
- or holding a Master's degree in Chemistry, Medicine, Biomedicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Public Health, Veterinary Medicine, or Bioengineering.
The "two-year" program
This program shares the courses of the first year of the Master in Biochemistry and Molecular and Cell Biology, so as to provide a deep understanding of the biological data that are typically produced in various research labs working on human or animal models, plants, or microorganisms, including viruses. As a result, only 10% of this first year deals with bioinformatics per se. However, the second year includes the 90% other bioinformatics courses that are part of the "one-year program". Its aim is to provide the required skills to analyze the biological data introduced in the first year.
This program is meant for students:
- holding a Bachelor's degree in a field belonging to the life sciences (including Chemistry)
- holding a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Engineering, or in many other scientific fields, provided that a maximum of 15 additional credits of remedial are also selected (depending on the exact background).
Learning outcomes
Au terme du programme de Master, les diplômés auront acquis les compétences suivantes :
- Capacité d'analyse, de gestion et de modélisation de données issues des sciences du vivant
- Conception et/ou développement d'applications logicielles en (bio)informatique
- Capacité à travailler de manière autonome et en équipe pluridisciplinaire
- Esprit de synthèse permettant de communiquer de manière claire un projet professionnel, les résultats ou problèmes rencontrés
- Gestion du déroulement d'un projet en termes de temps et d'objectifs à atteindre
- Capacité à développer des concepts et des projets innovants de recherche fondamentale ou appliquée afin de répondre à des problèmes actuels
- Capacité à rassembler et à analyser de manière critique des informations sur des sujets liés aux sciences de la vie et à assurer une veille technologique
- Capacité à analyser de manière critique sa pratique professionnelle en vue de la modifier.