The Master's degree in Biology orientation in Bioinformatics and data analysis in biology (BIAB)

The University of Geneva, the University of Lausanne and the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics have a common specialisation in bioinformatics. Degrees are issued by the institution in which the students are enrolled but the common courses are given either in Geneva or in Lausanne.

This common program of bioinformatics teaches the theoretical basis of bioinformatics and applications to real and current biological problems.

In the 1st semester, students attend the following courses, which combine theory, wet and in-silico labs:

  • Sequence a genome: this course was specifically designed to teach all steps of genome sequencing: from isolating the DNA of a bacteria, sequencing it, assembling its genome, closing the gaps, annotating the genes, until the final publication. This course has received the "2012 Excellence for teaching in biology" award of the University of Lausanne
  • Elements of Bioinformatics: it spans all the principal bioinformatics tools which are used in genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics, giving a special emphasis to biological databases and in-silico protein sequence analysis. More than 300 students have already attended this essential course in modern biology
  • Programming: presents the basic and advanced concepts of programming and algorithms through the use of the Phyton language and exercises in bioinformatics. Shell commands, command lines and the use of regular expressions are practised with a GNU/Linux environment. The programming skills are sustained with the development of a bioinformatics project during the whole semester in one of the implicated labs
  • Statistics and probability: presents basic and advanced concepts of statistics and probability with an emphasis on examples relevant to bioinformatics
  • Write a review: Students learn how to formulate scientific knowledge in the form of a review article, how to present facts in a logical manner, and the basic notions about scientific writing. They also learn how to present your work in a concise oral presentation and how to work as a team
These courses are given in Geneva and Lausanne and the schedule of the courses was set up to allow students to easily commute from one city to another. Travel expenses are covered by the Triangle Azur coordination.

In the 2nd and 3rd semesters, students choose among a variety of bioinformatics and life sciences courses to fulfil the optional credits, and they pursue a master's project on a bioinformatics subject. The lists of projects, programming and master, are available at the SIB site.

The common program of bioinformatics is integrated to the curricula of the: