Faculty of Science > Courses and Programmes > Degree Programmes > Bioinformatics

MSc in Bioinformatics

Bioinformatics is a very active interdisciplinary field of research. 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 first realised that genetic information is encoded in the DNA, and 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 studied one by one, whereas today, new experimental technologies allow us to survey all the genes in an organism, as well as their activity levels and complex interactions. The pgrogramme is taught in English.

Computers are necessary to process and analyse the enormous amounts of data from such experiments and this is where bioinformatics is essential. Bioinformatics (or computational biology) aims at solving biological problems using mathematical, statistical and computational techniques. Modern biological and medical research cannot be done without bioinformatics.

• Profile
• Career opportunities
• Programme structure
• Admission requirements
• Appication and tuition fees

Profile

• You will learn the fundamentals of bioinformatics, which include sequence analysis, protein and RNA structural analysis, genomics, phylogenetics, analysis of high-throughput data, machine learning methods etc.
• Only one third of the courses are mandatory, so you will have plenty of opportunity to specialise in your favourite topic through elective courses, small research projects and, of course, your thesis work.

Career opportunities

Many MSc graduates in bioinformatics find employment in biotech companies. Try searching for bioinformatics on the Nature job site. Many of our graduates so far have continued on to a PhD programme.

Programme structure

The MSc programme is a two-year programme equivalent to 120 ECTS credit points. Most of these (90 ECTS credit points) are obtained from courses and small projects. The final Master's thesis is 30 ECTS credit points, which corresponds to approximately six months of work. The MSc programme is taught in English. This means that lectures are in English, as well as your reports and exams.

There are three types of courses in the programme:

• Core courses are mandatory bioinformatics courses that you are required to follow. They cover the fundamentals of bioinformatics and they take up half the time of the first year of study (30 ECTS credit points).
• Specialised modules are either specialised courses in bioinformatics or projects (7.5 or 15 ECTS credit points) that can be carried out in groups or individually. Often a project is carried out as a prelude to the Master's thesis. A minimum of 22.5 ECTS credit points must be taken as Specialised modules.
• Supplementary courses (in Danish: Redskabskurser) are courses on topics necessary to understand and work with bioinformatics, such as statistics. Students with a BSc in a discipline within biology would typically take courses on programming, while those from computer science would take courses on e.g. molecular biology. Supplementary courses are allowed up to a maximum of 37.5 ECTS credit points.

Admission requirements

The admission requirements are described in §4 of the curriculum.

Application and tuition fees 

You can find information about how to apply and tuition fees in the table below: