The admission period is now open and will end in 31 January 2008. You can find details how to apply at our admission pages.
Career in bioinformatics
MBI graduates will be able to obtain positions in industrial and academic facilities such as biomedical companies, universities and research institutions. A bioinformatician often acts in a multidisciplinary environment with people from both methodological sciences, and biosciences and medicine. It is thus important that a bioinformatician is able to master topics from different disciplines.
Route to PhD degree
Excellent graduates from the MBI programme have the possibility to continue their studies in the PhD programme ComBi.
What do I need to be able to apply to MBI?
You are eligible to apply to the programme, if you already hold a suitable Bachelor’s degree, or have the degree at latest on 1 August 2008. Suitable fields are computer science, mathematics, statistics, biosciences and medicine, for example. In addition, you need to have at least 60 ECTS compatible credits in total of the following subjects: mathematics, statistics, computer science and bioinformatics.
You also need to be proficient in English language.
What can MBI offer to me?
MBI programme offers a unique combination of bioinformatics, methodological sciences, biosciences and medicine. The core courses have been designed to support courses beyond the same discipline. For instance, in the course Measurement Techniques for Bioinformatics students will collect data which can be then analysed in methodological courses. In particular, an MBI student will learn the bioinformatics process all the way through from planning the experiments to data analysis and verification of hypotheses.
As an MBI student, you will be able to take courses from two universities. In the University of Helsinki, you may participate to MBI courses offered by Faculties of Science, Bioscience and Medicine. In Helsinki University of Technology, Laboratory of Computer and Information Science offers courses to the programme.
Internship is a part of your studies
Studying in the MBI programme gives you a chance to become familiar with real-life bioinformatics as you intern in a bioinformatics company or research group. Besides giving useful work experience and connections, the internship period may also yield a suitable topic for the MSc thesis. MBI programme actively participates in providing students with internship positions and financial support for the internship period.
Study language is English
In the programme, you will study in English. Furthermore, a teacher tutor will be assigned to you who will guide you during your studies.
The programme is international. Currently there are 13 students, of whom five are abroad and eight are Finnish.
What is the content of my studies?
In MBI programme, the content of your studies depends on your Bachelor’s degree. For instance, if you have a Bachelor in computer science, you will study biology and medicine in addition to bioinformatics to complement your previous degree. On the other hand, if you have studied biosciences in your Bachelor’s, your Master’s will contain more computer science, mathematics and statistics.
The core of MSc bioinformatics degree consists of two bioinformatics courses, which you take in your first Autumn semester. While Introduction to Bioinformatics provides the essential background for the other bioinformatics courses, Practical Course in Biodatabases gives you deeper insight on how and why biological data are organised into databases, and how to access the databases.
At the same time, you will be taking your first course in biology and medicine, namely Biology for Methodological Scientists, if you have not already studied basic biology courses for your previous degree.
Your first Spring semester will take you to laboratory on the course Measurement Techniques in Bioinformatics where you will learn how the biological data is generated with different techniques such as microarrays and mass spectrometry. You also have the option to take the data with you to bioinformatics courses to further learn how to analyse the data.
In addition to compulsory courses, you can choose from a number of optional courses in bioinformatics, methodological sciences, biosciences and medicine. Your study advisor will help you make the choices on the basis of your previous degree and your interests.
Your second year studies in the programme will consist of bioinformatics courses and seminars as well as the Master’s thesis.
If you would like to know more about the structure of studies in MBI, please have a look at our example study plan!
Financial support
The University of Helsinki offers a limited number of scholarships for exceptional Master students.
Please note that the University of Helsinki and Helsinki University of Technology currently have no application, examination, admission or tuition fees.
How to apply?
The application period for studies starting in Autumn 2008 begins 15 November 2007 for the University of Helsinki and 1 November 2007 for Helsinki University of Technology. The application period closes 31 January 2008.
You can find detailed instructions on how to apply at our admission pages.
If you have any questions regarding the programme, please contact coordinator Esa Pitkänen, bioinfo[ at ]cs.helsinki.fi
Dowload: Example Study Plan
Deadline: 31 January 2008.
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