Bioinformatics Interdepartmental Program (IDP)

The Bioinformatics IDP offers rigorous and integrated training for students interested in undertaking research at the interface of computer science, mathematics, statistics, biology, and biomedicine to address the fundamental challenges of data-rich research in biosciences. This interdisciplinary PhD program consists of an integrated one-year core curriculum, research rotations, over 50 elective courses, and faculty mentors spanning biology, mathematics, engineering, and medicine. UCLA has a strong record of bioinformatics research and graduate training. In 1999 the faculty established a graduate core curriculum in bioinformatics, which has been offered continuously since that time, and recently has been greatly expanded, demonstrating the faculty’s commitment to collaborative teaching and to long-term development of an integrated bioinformatics program. These initiatives have been recognized by a large number of awards of multi-investigator Project and Training grants in bioinformatics from NIH, NSF, DOE and other funding sources. 

The central mission of the Bioinformatics Interdepartmental Graduate Program is to train talented and highly motivated students to become next-generation leaders in the field of Bioinformatics. The program was established in 2008. In the past 10 years or so, the program has enjoyed a tremendous growth in size and impact. It has graduated 20 students and now has more than 45 Ph.D. students in the program. It has a diverse group of over 50 faculty members spanning over 10 academic departments in the Schools of Medicine, Engineering, Life Sciences, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and Public Health. These exceptional faculty mentors include HHMI investigators and members of the National Academy of Sciences. 

The faculty are deeply committed to this mission and provide in-depth, attentive mentorship for students throughout their graduate careers and beyond. Students in the program enjoy a vibrant intellectual environment including the Institute for Quantitative and Computational Biosciences, the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, and the NIH Big Data to Knowledge Center of Excellence at UCLA. The program offers exceptional institutional resources and facilities for genomic and biomedical big data production and advanced high-performance computing. It is also home to a NIH Training Grant in Biomedical Big Data, and the students receive extensive fellowship support from a large list of training grants at UCLA. The program is devoted to community outreach and diversity, and deeply committed to recruiting and training students from underrepresented groups in Bioinformatics.

For more information, please refer to the Bioinformatics website.

Last updated
November 20, 2023