uni vers i t y of copenhagen

Bioinformatics Master Program

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Content
The uniqueness of our program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2-Year Bioinformatics Master Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Mandatory Core Bioinformatics Master Program courses and their objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Career prospects for Bioinformatics Masters Program graduates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Former students impressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Enrollment and tuition for the Bioinformatics Master Program at University of Copenhagen . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Living in Copenhagen, Denmark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
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Our Bioinformatics Master Program has been running
for 10 years, with continuous evaluations and improve-
ments along the way. Each lecturer who is associated
with our Bioinformatics Master Program is an expert on
a sub-eld in bioinformatics. These areas include for ex-
ample nucleic acid sequence analysis, molecular structure
prediction, data mining and gene expression analysis.
The lecturers are leading individual research teams of
students, postdocs and technical assistants and publish
high-level research articles in peer-reviewed interna-
tional journals such as Science and Nature. Our team of
lecturers also write international textbooks about the
eld in which they are teaching of which for instance
Biological Sequence Analysis is one of the most used and
praised textbooks in bioinformatics to date.
This is our way of ensuring that students who enroll
with our Bioinformatics Master Program are educated by
outstanding lecturers who are leading and performing
cutting-edge research within their bioinformatics exper-
tise area. This also allows a close and fruitful interaction
between our Master Program students and the research
groups, providing a unique opportunity to perform
hands-on student projects on genuine research issues.
We take pride in delivering small-scale teaching and
offering our students to become a true part of our
Bioinformatics community. The bioinformatics program
only accepts 25 students per year, which means that our
students can easily get to know and interact with not
only the other students with the program, but also the
scientists and personnel in our section. For instance, our
students are invited to join both scientic seminars and
recreational staff events.
Conversely we invite external partners and collaborators
from University and Industry to student project seminars.
Furthermore, the University of Copenhagen is consistent-
ly ranked as one of the best universities in Europe.
The uniqueness of our program
why study Bioinformatics with us?
Our lecturers are Bioinformatics experts that lead
own research groups of high international stan-
dard
Close interaction between our students and the
Bioinformatics staff and external scientic com-
munity
Small-scale teaching with close interaction
between students and lecturers
Genuine research issues for hand-on student
projects
Great social and educational environment for
students
Exposure to future employers / employment
opportunities
University of Copenhagen is among the best
universities in Europe
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All courses give 7.5 ECTS points. The academic year is
divided into four blocks (7-9 weeks of teaching).
2-Year Bioinformatics Master Program
a brief overview
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Supplementary courses are elective. Students with a Bachelors
degree in Biology would typically take a course in computer
programming while someone from computer science would
take a course in e.g. molecular biology. Supplementary courses
are allowed up to a maximum of 37.5 ECTS points.
2. Year Block 4 Master Thesis

(60 ECTS)
Block 3
Block 2 Supplementary course or Supplementary course or
Specialised module Specialised module
Block 1 Supplementary course or Supplementary course or
Specialised module Specialised module

Mandatory Core courses:
1. Year Block 4 Bioinformatics of high-throughput analysis Supplementary course or
(60 ECTS) Specialised module
Block 3 Population Genetics Supplementary course or
Specialised module
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Block 2 Structural Bioinformatics Supplementary course
Block 1 Biological Sequence Analysis Supplementary course
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Entry Bachelor Degree from e.g. Computer Science, Biology, Biophysics, Physics, Molecular Biology,
(180 ECTS) Statistics, Mathematics or Engineering elds.
The academic year begins in the rst week of September
and ends with the last week of June.
Typical structure of the two-year program:
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Specialized modules in bioinformatics or projects (7,5 or 15
ECTS) that can be made in groups or individually. Often a proj-
ect is made as a prelude to the Masters thesis. A minimum of
22.5 ECTS points is required from specialised modules.
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Mandatory Core Bioinformatics Master Program courses and their objectives
Bioinformatics of high throughput analysis
A wealth of experimental methods can now be applied
to study whole genomes including tiling arrays, Chip-Chip
and tag-based sequencing. These types of data sets are too
large and complex to analyze by hand or by using spread-
sheet programs. The primary aim of this course is to intro-
duce the students to bioinformatics methods to handle,
visualize, analyze and interpret high-throughput experi-
mental data, such as gene expression data, proteomics
data, CAGE, SAGE and sequencing data. A large part of
the course consist of hands-on exercises in class, as well as
using (and learning) the R environment - a very powerful
statistics platform which is free to download. This course is
taught by Associate Professor Albin Sandelin.
Biological Sequence Analysis
In this course you learn the fundamentals of biological
sequence analysis, which forms the basis for a large part of
bioinformatics activities. The topics include pair-wise align-
ment, multiple alignment, substitution matrices, database
searching, BLAST, hidden Markov models and sequence
proles. In the lectures, the emphasis is on the theory
and during exercises you will learn how to solve practical
problems using available programs. The course is taught by
Professor Anders Krogh.
Population genetics
The amount of molecular genetic data (especially nucleo-
tide sequences) has increased tremendously in recent years
and is expected to explode as the next generation sequenc-
ing methods become standard tools. This has implications
for a wide spectrum of biological disciplines spanning con-
servation genetics, molecular ecology, molecular medicine,
genome research and evolutionary biology. The purpose
of the course is to provide the students with knowledge
about the principles of population genetics, phylogenet-
ics and their applications in the diverse areas mentioned
before. In addition, the course will train the students to
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Mandatory Core Bioinformatics Master Program courses and their objectives
choose suitable methods to analyze molecular genetic
data. The course is taught by Associate Professor Hans
Siegismund.
Structural Bioinformatics
All biological molecules are three-dimensional structures,
and information on this structure is of high importance
for applications such as drug design and biotechnology.
In this course, you will get a thorough introduction to
structural bioinformatics, that is, the science of under-
standing the link between molecular structure and func-
tion through computational procedures. Topics discussed
in the course include protein structure analysis (includ-
ing experimental methods), protein and RNA structure
prediction and prediction of protein function from
structure. Invited speakers from industry and academia
discuss topics such as structure based drug design and
protein engineering. You will learn how to develop your
own custom-made algorithms and applications using Py-
thon and Biopython. Many of the algorithms that will be
discussed are also used in articial intelligence, gaming
and robotics. The course is taught by Associate Professor
Thomas Hamelryck.
Master thesis (30 ECTS)
During Blok 3+4 of the second year of the Bioinformatics
Master Program, all students are required to do a Master
thesis. We encourage the thesis project to be run in col-
laboration with e.g. a biotech or pharmaceutical partner,
an Hospital unit, or with partners at other University in
Denmark or abroad and we provide ample opportunity
to our students, for such collaborative master projects.
Information on all other relevant courses:
This link provides a updated information about Manda-
tory and Supplementary courses as well as Specialised
modules for Bioinformatics Master Program http://www.
binf.ku.dk/programmes/
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Career prospects for Bioinformatics Masters Program graduates
Bioinformatics is a very active interdisciplinary eld
of research that is of increasing importance in science
today. Within the past 50 years, advances in biological
research have revolutionised our understanding of the
molecular basis of life: From the 1940s, when it was rst
realised that genetic information is encoded in the DNA,
to today when we know the complete DNA sequence for
a number of species - including Homo Sapiens. This and
other major breakthroughs have changed the science of
biology for good. Just a few years ago, genes were stud-
ied one by one, whereas today, new experimental tech-
nologies allow us to survey all the genes in an organism,
as well as their activity levels and complex interactions.
Computers are necessary to process and analyse the
enormous amounts of data from such experiments and
this is where bioinformatics is essential. Bioinformat-
ics (or computational biology as it is sometimes coined)
aims at solving biological problems using mathemati-
cal, statistical and computational techniques. Modern
biological and medical research cannot be done without
bioinformatics contributions.
As a student, you will learn the fundamentals of bio-
informatics, which include sequence analysis, protein
and RNA structural analysis, genomics, phylogenetics,
analysis of high-throughput sequencing data, machine
learning methods and more. As only one third of the
Bioinformatics Master Program courses are mandatory,
you will have plenty of opportunity to specialise in your
favourite topic through elective courses, small research
projects and, of course, your Master thesis project.
Master Program Graduates with advanced bioinformat-
ics skills are in high demand in both academia and indus-
try because state-of-the art experimental methods today
produce very large amounts of data, which require
computational analysis to properly processed and anal-
ysed. For this reason, our former Bioinformatics Master
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Career prospects for Bioinformatics Masters Program graduates
Program students are now typically working in leading
biotech industry positions or in research positions at dif-
ferent universities around the world.
However, many of our Master Program students choose
to do a PhD as their immediate next step, often as a con-
tinuation of the Master thesis project collaboration.
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Former students impressions
Maria Garcia, Spain: Te decision to come to Copenhagen
and study was based on personal reasons, I think. After
having a great experience abroad for my Bachelor degree,
I liked the idea of pursuing a Master Degree abroad.
Considering diferent possibilities around Europe, I came
across the Bioinformatics Master program, which had
been running for some years, with experienced faculty
members, and therefore the frst years of trial and error
should be a thing of the past (I come from the frst batch
of graduates on my own bachelor, so I know that the frst
years of the implementation of a program can be tricky).
Also, the University of Copen hagen ranked quite high in
Europe and the city itself is well-known as one of the cities
around the world with better quality of life. Of course,
the fact that being an EU citizen allowed me not to pay
tuition fees was an incentive. It all seemed worth a try.
To summarize, it was basically because it is a program
experienced enough, from one good university within
Europe, which would allow me to study and work in an
international environment and have the opportunity to
live in a good city.
Troels Marstrand, Denmark: I started the Bioinformatics
Masters Program with a Bachelor degree in biology. Dur-
ing my Masters Degree I took several courses in computer
science and statistics. Tis has proven very helpful in
understanding current bioinformatics approaches as well
as developing new ones. I graduated in 2005 with a thesis
on Prediction of Transcription Start Sites in the Human
Genome, and fnished my PhD in 2009. I was then
practically head-hunted to a postdoc position at Princeton
University.
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Former students impressions
Pedro Manuel Garcia, Spain: For me, bioinformatics is
the perfect combination of biology and computer skills. I
already have a fve-year education as a computer engineer,
but I wanted to try a bit more than that. I have had my
wishes completely fulflled by moving to Copenhagen to
join the Bioinformatics Master Program. All the classes
are taught in English and the teaching is frst class.
Sanne Nygaard, Denmark: After getting my Bachelors
Degree in biology, I decided to move to the feld of bio-
informatics. On the computer, you can address a number
of biological questions, that cannot be answered in the
lab. Bioinformaticians often work on large-scale prob-
lems, looking at general, overall processes and pathways
in the cell. Tis birds-eye perspective on biology suits me
better than working on one specifc gene or pathway for
years. Bioinformatics is a very cross-disciplinary feld,
and collaborations with people from other backgrounds
have given me a much greater appreciation of the many
diferent aspects of science. My Master thesis dealt with
host-pathogen interactions in malaria parasites. I have
just fnished my PhD: I now work with assembling of ant
genomes!
Enrollment and tuition for the Bioinformatics Master Program at University of Copenhagen
The application deadline for international students is
April 1st. Detailed information on how to apply for the
Bioinformatics Master Program can be found on this
link http://www.science.ku.dk/english/education/master/
admission/. All applicants are expected to fulll both the
General requirements (Proof of English Language pro-
ciency) and Academic requirements (Proof of Bachelor
Degree education and course details) to be admitted
to the Bioinformatics Master Program at the Faculty of
Science, University of Copenhagen.
The Bioinformatics Master Program is not offered on a
part-time basis or via distance education.
Applicants from EU/EEA countries qualify for a tuition
fee waiver and should therefore not pay tuition.
Applicants from non-EU/EAA countries must pay a
tuition fee of 15,300 per year.
Cambridge English Exams, TOEFL or IELTS test are
accepted proof of English Language prociency.
You can apply for a transfer on one year of MSc stud-
ies from your home University to Copenhagen Uni-
versity. Please contact [email protected] for
more information.
Once you have been offered admission, the Ofce of
International Affairs will initiate your visa process. You
are not required to do anything prior to your applica-
tion.
Enrollment and tuition for the Bioinformatics Master Program at University of Copenhagen
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Living in Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark and is the largest
metropolis in Scandinavia. The city is considered as a
centre of culture and arts with plenty of entertainment
activities to offer its inhabitants and visitors together
with a multitude of shopping facilities and the longest
pedestrian street system in the world.
The city was founded in the years 1160-67 by Bishop
Absalon (1128-1201) who was at that time the coun-
selor for King Valdemar I (1131-1182 - Ruled Denmark
115457 as Valdemar the Great). Bishop Absalon com-
pleted the task to build a city on the east coast of Zea-
land to protect trade on the Sound (resund).
Today a bridge and tunnel called resundsbroen
connects Copenhagen with Sweden and its metropoli-
tan area is named the Oresund Region.
Copenhagen is ripe with ambiance, history and activity
that are not least primed by the many students who live
here.
The University of Copenhagen is the largest university in
Denmark with over 37,000 students and more than 7,000
employees. Inaugurated in 1479, it is also one of the
oldest universities in Northern Europe. It has more than
200 study programs and is located at four campus areas
in central Copenhagen. The University of Copenhagen
is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in
Europe.
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Living in Copenhagen, Denmark
Moving away from home can at times be challenging
and doing so in Copenhagen at the start of the academic
year can be even more so. From the experience of our
former international students, we recommend that you
send applications for housing to the Centralindstilling-
sudvalget (CIU) and Kollegiernes Kontor I Kbenhavn
(KKIK). You can nd the addresses and more information
on this link http://studies.ku.dk/housing/nding_hous-
ing_on_your_own/.
The Copenhagen International Ofce (http://studies.
ku.dk/) also manages a Student Mentor program, in
which new students are connected with a mentor stu-
dent, before arriving at Copenhagen. The main objective
of this initiative is to help make your landing and rst
steps in Copenhagen smoother, and also to help you
to start a social life outside the Bioinformatics Master
Program.

Related, you should also look out for the many associa-
tions and social networks for students in Copenhagen.
As one example, you can nd a relatively new initiative
undertaken by students at the SCIENCE faculty: the Inter-
national Student Society of Copenhagen (http://isscopen-
hagen.wordpress.com/).
Native name: Kbenhavn (Copenhagen)
Founded: 1167
Urban Area: 1980 Km
Population: 1.8 million (Greater Copenhagen)
Currency: Danish Kroner
Airport: Kastrup
Driving: Right side
Time Zone: UCT+1

Covers from rst class scientic papers, and
state-of-the art textbooks in bioinformatics,
written by the teachers responsible for the
masters program.
The Bioinformatics Centre
Section for Computational and RNA Biology
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science
Ole Maaloes Vej 5, DK-2200 Copenhagen
Web: www.bio.ku.dk/binf/
Email: [email protected]