Bioinformatics major

Bioinformatics is the use of computational approaches and tools to answer questions about biology and medicine. This four-year major in the Bachelor of Health Sciences program will provide the essential skills to engage in a career at the intersection of computer science and the biological and health sciences.

Beginning with foundational courses in computer science, biology, chemistry, and math, this major will gradually synthesize these historically distinct fields into the modern, fast-moving, practice we know as bioinformatics.

Because of the dramatic improvements in recent years in computer science and biotechnology, it is an exciting time to be a bioinformatician; the scale and depth of the questions we can answer is unprecedented and stands only to grow in the near future.

Specialists in bioinformatics can engage with a huge variety of projects across the life sciences, from analyzing ancient genomes, to examining the molecular variation and causes of disease, to simulating all manner of biological systems – from individual molecules to whole ecosystems – to name just a few.

The bioinformatics major in the BHSc program provides one of the best opportunities to engage with the modern “big data” world, which is poised to dramatically disrupt the health sciences in particular (both in terms of research and clinical delivery).