About the author

Carrie Iwema

Carrie is an Information Specialist in Molecular Biology for the Health Sciences Library System at the University of Pittsburgh. She has a PhD in Neuroscience and a Masters in Library Science.

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I just finished reading an Opinion article by Dr. Lincoln D Stein in Genome Biology entitled �Bioinformatics: alive and kicking� which inspired me to do some sharing.

No, I’m not going to start a debate on whether �bioinformatics� is a discipline or a tool (although that would be a potentially lively discussion).

Instead I’m going to pilfer a couple of resources from Stein’s reference list (and add a couple of others I found) that I think could be useful for those of you interested in bioinformatics training.

• The International Society for Computational Biology listing of bioinformatics related degree and certificate programs worldwide.This list can be sorted by program focus, degree type, or location, and can be searched by key characteristics, goals, or University.I couldn’t determine how often it is updated, but users are able to fill out a form to post programs offered by their own institution.
• A list of bioinformatics courses and degrees worldwide contains over 280 places and has been updated regularly for almost 10 years by Dr. Wentian Li of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. The website lists a few bioinformatics articles as well as bioinformatics courses/degrees arranged by region: Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East, North America, Pacific, and South America. Also included is a list of a few virtual (online) classes.
• Bioinformatics web also provides a list of worldwide bioinformatics educational programs organized by region: US, Canada, Europe, Israel, Australia, Africa, and Asia & South Pacific. Unfortunately, this page doesn’t appear to be frequently updated and some of their links are broken. However, it at least provides the names of institutions offering bioinformatics training so you can always follow up on your own.
• BEDROCK (Bioinformatics Education Dissemination: Reaching Out, Connecting and Knitting-together)—yes, that’s right, they used â€?knitting-togetherâ€? to make the acronym, ahem, work—created a list of bioinformatics degree programs primarily found in the US, but also a few international programs. The list is in a table format and can be rearranged by degree type: BS, MS, and/or PhD.

Remember to leave a comment if you know of other meta-resources listing bioinformatics degree programs or courses!