Applied Bioinformatics MSc at Cranfield University

Over the past few years, Bioinformatics has become the most exciting field in biology. This Bioinformatics MSc course provides a unique hands-on learning experience in bioinformatics skills, by combining the latest advances in analysing high-throughput genomic, transcriptomic and metabolomics data.

Cranfield’s Bioinformatics MSc is the first of its kind in the UK. With more than 200 alumni over the past 10 years, it became the most popular postgraduate course in Bioinformatics in Europe. Because Cranfield is a solely postgraduate university it means that every single taught module of the Applied Bioinformatics MSc is uniquely tailored to be a Masters-level. That’s why it is the award-winner of the BBSRC’s Masters Training Grant (MTG) for best course in life sciences. Our taught modules cover in great depth a plethora of programming languages typically applied in the bioinformatics, such as Perl, Java, R and SQL; as well as modern Web technologies such as JavaEE, NoSQL and JavaScript. Furthermore, we have two dedicated taught modules focusing on established bioinformatics protocols for the latest Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and 3rd Generation Sequencing (3GS) technologies.

Who is it for?

This course aims to equip graduate scientists with the computational skills and awareness needed to process, analyse and interpret the vast amounts of biological data now becoming available. This course is equally suitable for candidates from life sciences disciplines who aim to gain the programming and computational skills through this course, and graduates with IT/computer science background who want to gain the molecular biology understanding to become bioinformaticians.

On completion of this course, you will be able to apply information technology and computational techniques to process genomic and genetic data, as well as developing novel drug discovery and diagnostic tools.

Additionally, you will gain the skills to design and implement software tools and databases using the latest advances in standalone and web-based technologies to fulfil the need of the research community.

Our Careers Service can help you find the job you want after leaving Cranfield. We will work with you to identify suitable opportunities and support you in the job application process for up to three years after graduation.We have been providing Masters level training for over 20 years. Our strong reputation and links with potential employers provide you with outstanding opportunities to secure interesting jobs and develop successful careers. The increasing interest in sustainability and corporate and social responsibility has also enhanced the career prospects of our graduates.

Why this course?

1. The only Bioinformatics MSc in the UK offering a truly bespoke postgraduate experience:

Cranfield University is the only solely postgraduate university in the UK, which means that every single lecture and practical session within the Applied Bioinformatics MSc is tailored at M-level. Unlike other Bioinformatics MSc courses you may come across, you won’t be sharing any modules or lectures with other undergraduate students or MSc courses. This gives our Applied Bioinformatics MSc a truly tailored postgraduate experience.

2. A Variety of programming languages:

Experience taught us that there is no such thing as a single preferred programming language in the field of bioinformatics. Every programming language has its strength and advantages depending on the task in hand. For example, Java can be quite powerful if you are developing a visualization and/or standalone application, while R and Python are excellent choices for machine learning and statistical analysis. Perl on the other hand is a very easy programming language to learn by biologist, and forms the foundation of most of the legacy tools and frameworks developed for the human genome project, and still being used to date. That’s why the Applied Bioinformatics MSc is the only course in the UK that offers three dedicated programming modules as part of the taught component; covering R, Java, and Perl. Furthermore, other programming languages such as Bash, JavaEE, SQL, JavaScript and Python are also comprehensively covered. This means that upon the completion of this course, you won’t only have the skills and expertise to develop optimized bioinformatics tools for various tasks, but you will also find it relatively much easier to learn new programming languages that were not covered during the course; as you will have the foundation in interpreted, object-oriented, and statistically-focused languages.

3. A truly NGS and 3GS-focused course:

Analysing sequencing data from the latest sequencing platforms such as Illumina® Pacific Biosciences ® and 10x Chromium® is nowadays a standard skill required for most bioinformatics jobs (a quick search on LinkedIn for bioinformatics jobs should prove this!). That’s why in this course we have two dedicated modules on analyzing sequencing data. The first module, “Next Generation Sequencing Informatics” focuses on preprocessing and analyzing Illumina® short-reads sequences for performing sequence alignment, gene expression profiling using RNA-Seq, and genotyping for variant discovery. The second module, “Advanced Sequencing Informatics and Genome Assembly”, provides hands-on experience in performing de-novo sequence assembly using short and long-reads sequencing data, as well as providing  computer practical sessions in developing and optimizing your own assembler using the overlap-layout-consensus (OLC) and de-bruijn-graph (DBG) algorithms.

4. Industrial and research applications in:

Drug discovery: Applications of bioinformatics in drug discovery is not only covered in the Applied Bioinformatics MSc course, but is actually an integral part of the delivery of the course. Leading experts from multinational pharmaceutical industry such as Enrico Ferrero (GSK) and Lee Larcombe (nexaSTEM) are core members of the teaching team of this course and are actively delivering several lectures and hands-on computational practicals. These industrial partners also offer a number of thesis projects for our students each academic year.