Domain: Biology; 4 semesters; full-time education
The Master’s Program in Bioinformatics Applied in Life Sciences (English) (2 years) is accredited by ARACIS and trains specialists in the fields of bioinformatics, molecular biotechnology, molecular biology and genetics, biochemistry and medical biology, as well as in other fields that require mixed biological and informatics competences. Graduates of the program can work in occupations with higher training, such as: expert biologist – 213102 (Code COR/ISCO-08), research assistant in biology – 213137 (Code COR/ISCO-08), bioinformatics scientist – 2131.3 (Code ESCO). The graduates of this Master’s Program in Bioinformatics Applied in Life Sciences (English), gain skills required to work at life sciences research and development institutes, national and international private companies focused on various life science and IT-based activities (biology, biochemistry and biology molecular, environmental, genetics and genetic engineering, biotechnologies, genomic and personalized medicine, nutrigenomics, performance agriculture, data mining, software development, etc.). Graduates can also work as bioinformatics scientist in public or private biomedical research and analysis laboratories. Alternatively, graduates of this master’s program can opt for doctoral studies, thus being able to occupy top professional positions in the academic field, as well as in private or public companies with a specific profile (information extracted from the Diploma Supplement).
The Master’s program provides graduates with the following competences (extracted from Diploma Supplement):
General competences (Hard skills)
Ø Explain the role of computational analysis and data mining in addressing hypothesis-driven and hypothesis-generating problems in the life and biomedical sciences;
Ø Application of key computational concepts and statistical methods in bioinformatics,
Ø Ability to identify appropriate biological databases, navigate and retrieve data from these databases, and organize data relevant to the field of study into format-specific files and/or stand-alone local databases;
Ø Development of technical capabilities to use advanced bioinformatics solutions in research and investigation of biological and biomedical problems solvable through bioinformatics analysis;
Ø Developing products (command lines, software, stand-alone specific databases) for querying, extracting, analyzing and managing sequence data and biological databases;
Ø Creating, managing and converting large volumes of data sets into relevant information using a wide range of quantitative and qualitative analysis methods;
Ø Interpretation by describing, explaining and discussing the ethical, legal, medical and societal implications of the generation, archiving and use of biological data;
Transversal competences (Soft skills)
Ø Acquiring efficient and responsible work strategies, based on punctuality, seriousness and personal responsibility, on the principles, norms and values of the academic and professional ethics code;
Ø Assimilation of techniques and work behaviors in a multidisciplinary team, on various hierarchical levels;
Ø Formation of ethical attitude towards the group, respect towards diversity and multiculturalism, acceptance of diversity of opinion and criticism, assumption of the specific role of teamwork, compliance with the principles of bioethics;
Ø The ability to work independently, develop projects, develop them and obtain good quality results by using rigorous scientific methods;
Ø Developing the capabilities to produce reports, studies and multidisciplinary projects, of interference with other professional and scientific fields.
Ø Communication of scientific results to a specialist or non-specialist audience.
Admission is based on the undergraduate final examination score (50%) and the interview score (50%). The interview consists of a discussion focused on general issues related to nucleic acids (structure and functions) and motivation for choosing this Master’s program in the context of the candidate’s academic background.
Coordinator: Prof. PhD Horia Banciu (horiaa.banciu@ubbcluj.ro)
SELECTION CRITERIA:
CALCULATION OF ADMISSION AVERAGE:
• (50%) undergraduate average
• (50%) grade in the oral test – interview
THE CRITERIA FOR DISTRIBUTION: • average years of study, • grade at the interview
TOPICS FOR THE ORAL TEST – INTERVIEW:
1. Discussion focused on motivation and interest for this study programme
2. Discussion on the topic of candidate’s Bachelor’s degree thesis