Master of Philosophy in Bioinformatics

This is a 2-year MSc programme with course work in the first year and research in the second year. Field specialization is done in the second year based one’s research project. The programme is suitable for applicants with sciences background such as Computer Science, Mathematics, Biological Sciences, Laboratory Sciences, Medical Sciences, Statistics, Physics, Chemistry and any other relevant mathematical sciences discipline. MSc Bioinformatics graduates become experts to pursue careers in use and development of bioinformatics tools for storage and analysis large molecular biology datasets in research and medical institutions. Bioinformaticians also make excellent systems administrators or managers in an ICT environment. Research advancement in molecular biology, medicine and agriculture is increasingly depending on computational techniques within the discipline of Bioinformatics. Bioinformatics is a multidisciplinary field which studies and applies computational, mathematical and statistical techniques to solve biological and medical problems. Previously, the generation of genomic data used to be the major challenge, currently however, a large volume of genomic data has been generated resulting into storage, processing and analytical problems to derive meaningful information from the data. The increase in genomics data has been partly due to advancements sequencing technologies and the increase in computation power. The development of next generation sequencing technologies has led to increased sequencing of genomes of interest resulting into drug discoveries and better understanding of diseases. Furthermore, the use of computers in biological sciences and medicine has complements traditional laboratory techniques that allow answering comprehensively critical questions. Generated data can also be comparatively used to answer emerging questions. Despite the advantages brought about by Bioinformatics developing countries are still lagging behind in training scientists and applying bioinformatics to solve critical problems. This can be attributed to lack of trained scientists, insufficient computer resources, limited Internet bandwidth and poor scientific leadership. However, the number of trained professionals to a doctoral level has recently increased thereby paving way for progress in the field. The MSc Bioinformatics is designed to culture students to design and analyze experiments aimed at obtaining genomic and proteomic data; possess the necessary knowledge and skills to develop, understand and create bioinformatics software tools and databases; and to become self-assured, independent and assertive professionals for whom analyzing an issue, structuring information, working in international and multidisciplinary teams, conducting and chairing discussions and presenting ideas have become second nature. By equipping students with advanced knowledge, skills and competences in computational techniques, advanced statistical methods, computational biology concepts, the programme further enables graduates to solve a wide range of biological and medical problems facing the world today particularly Malawi using cutting-edge skills and techniques in Bioinformatics.