Bioinformatician | Cambridge Genomic Medicine

These examples draw on the choices of previous students. Use your programme requirements and discuss your own choices with the programme team.

A bioinformatician examines short DNA reads aligned beneath a reference sequence on a computer screen. — Bioinformaticians use computational methods to investigate sequence data. These illustrative reads show an alignment; a differing base alone does not establish a clinically significant variant. View larger illustration

What do they do?

A bioinformatician is an expert in analysing DNA. They use their computational skills to compare genomic data from patients to databases to find out what might be the cause of a disease. We need clinical bioinformaticians to interpret DNA sequences to diagnose our patients. Cambridge has a large genomics industry that rely on large numbers of bioinformaticians. Some of these professionals will lecture you on the programme.

What modules are relevant?

A student wishing to pursue a career as a bioinformatician might want to consider the following combination of modules:

GM1 · Fundamentals of human genetics and genomics
GM3 · Omics technologies and their application to genomic medicine
GM11 · Variant interpretation (formerly Bioinformatics)
GM5 · Bioinformatics, interpretation and data quality assurance in genomic analysis (formerly Advanced Bioinformatics)
GM2 · Research and statistical skills for genomic medicine
GM10 · Epigenetics and disorders of the epigenome
GM6 · Application of genomics in infectious disease
One further module that fits the students interest (e.g. cancer or pharmacogenomics)
Research Project (computational focused)

"This combination of modules includes 6 modules which include practical's that cover different bioinformatic skills, ensuring you have a thorough education in different analysis methods and tools"

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