The Master's Bioinformatics and Systems Biology is a two-year programme taught in English, with an excellent international reputation. Research groups with extensive experience in a broad range of experimental and theoretical research lead the programme.
During the MSc programme, you choose between two specialisations, Bioinformatics or Systems Biology, or both. The programme guarantees that, upon successful completion of the study, you can communicate effectively with your colleagues, irrespective of your focus on experimental or computational disciplines.
The curriculum
In the first year in particular, much attention is paid to the basic principles of both bioinformatics and systems biology.
Students with a specialisation in Bioinformatics expand their knowledge in sequence analysis, next generation sequencing, prediction and simulation of protein structures and medical applications of Bioinformatics. Students with a specialisation in Systems Biology expand their knowledge with models of biological networks, experimental verification of models, relevance of systems biology for research and synthetic biology.
In the second and final year students do one or two research internships, complemented by elective courses depending on your preferences.
Integrated programme
The programme truly integrates a Bioinformatics and Systems Biology perspective. Your compulsory courses will tackle research problems within both fields. You may opt to take elective courses with an in-depth focus on a single discipline, such as molecular biology or machine learning.
You will study current issues, challenges and opportunities in both topics. There are ample opportunities for interesting and challenging internships, in hospitals (such as in oncology and clinical genetics), at biotech companies, at seed breeding companies, in the pharmaceutical industry, in data science and, of course, at bioinformatics and systems biology groups at universities.
Supervision
You will be assigned an academic mentor who supports you during the entire programme. This staff member will also act as examiner for your research projects.
