Request to establish a new Bioinformatics Applications Graduate Certificate Program

Date: May 11, 2010
To: College of Computing & Informatics
From: Clarence Greene, Faculty Governance Administrative Assistant
Approved On: March 16, 2010
Implementation Date: 2010

Note: Deletions are strikethroughs. Insertions are underlined.

Catalog Copy

Graduate Certificate Program in Bioinformatics Applications

The purpose of the Graduate Certificate in Bioinformatics Applications is to train individuals in the application of established bioinformatics methods for analysis of biological sequence, structure, and genomic data. The certificate requires twelve (12) credit hours of coursework. The certificate may be pursued concurrently with a related graduate degree program at UNC Charlotte or as a standalone program.

Admission Requirements

For admission into the certificate program, applicants must meet the following requirements:

  1. A bachelor’s degree in a life science discipline, that includes advanced coursework in molecular biology and genetics.
  2. Practical experience and confidence with computers, for instance use of common web browsers, word processing, plotting, and spreadsheet applications.

Program Requirements

Students will take four courses that introduce core methods for analysis of molecular biological data:

  • BINF – 6200 Statistics for Bioinformatics (3)

And three courses chosen from the following list of electives:

  • BINF – 6201 Molecular Sequence Analysis (3)
  • BINF – 6202 Computational Structural Biology (3)
  • BINF – 6203 Genomics (3)
  • BINF – 6211 Design and Implementation of Bioinformatics Databases (3)
  • BINF – 6350 Genomic Biotechnology (3)

If a student wishes to enter the program having completed coursework that is equivalent to one or more of the core requirements, the requirements may be waived at the discretion of the certificate coordinator. In this case, the required 12 credit hours may be selected from other advanced graduate courses offered by the Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics.

Transfer credit may not be applied toward this certificate.

It is suggested that students in the Graduate Certificate Program arrange formal co-mentorship by a Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics faculty member, if the student is concurrently enrolled in another thesis-based degree program on campus and intends to extend or enable their thesis research through the application of bioinformatic methods.