Medical Bioinformatics

computer

Welcome to Medical Bioinformatics

Medical Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field that brings together computer sciences, the medical sciences and health care, to achieve better health for Canadians.

What is Medical Bioinformatics?

Medical Bioinformatics is the use of computational methods to solve problems in biomedical sciences. High-throughput technologies that rapidly generate enormous amounts of data (e.g., next-generation sequencing platforms), which were once considered "cutting edge", are now essential tools in modern biomedical and clinical laboratories. This module provides students with the necessary foundation in computing, statistics and medical sciences, followed by a series of unique courses in Medical Bioinformatics with an emphasis on practical skill development.

Medical Bioinformatics is...

Medical Bioinformatics (MBI) is an interdisciplinary field that exists at the convergence of medical sciences, computing, and statistics.  Bioinformatics was born from the necessity of integrating and analyzing the unprecedented amount of sequence data generated by the laboratories contributing to the Human Genome Project. 

As laboratory technologies continue to rapidly grow more powerful, researchers in the medical sciences are overwhelmed by the volume and complexity of their own data.  Western’s unique MBI program enables students to develop essential skills in computing and statistics in the context of solving problems in the medical sciences.

Honours Specialization in Medical Bioinformatics

Students combine foundational courses in both the medical sciences (biochemistry, pathology and physiology), computer sciences (coding essentials, databases and AI), and mathematical statistics (matrix algebra, probability, and Bayesian inference). Next, students complete a core curriculum of a third-year introduction to medical bioinformatics, and two fourth-year courses in genomics, epigenomics, or infectious disease bioinformatics. Enrolment in the module is limited and leads to a Bachelor of Medical Sciences (BMSc) degree.

Courses