Study plan Bachelor's Degree in Bioinformatics - UAB/UPF/UB/UPC

Basic skills

• Students should have an intra- and inter-disciplinary training between subjects of a computer-based and scientific character, with a solid basic training in Biology.

Specific skills

• Acquire a knowledge of biology from the scale of the cellular through to the organism, with an interdisciplinary vision and with special emphasis placed on biomedical applications.
  • Accredit knowledge and appropriate skills in the areas of biological sciences.
  • Identify the diverse types of molecules, understand their chemistry and the relationship between their three-dimensional structure and biological function.
  • Understand the stages in the process of gene expression: phenomena of division and cell death in unicellular and pluricellular organisms, regulation points and the use of RNA as a functional molecule.
  • Identify the main metabolic pathways and the process of extracellular signal transmission.
• Manage and exploit all types of biological and biomedical information to transform this into knowledge.
  • Visualise, manipulate and extract biological data.
  • Improve an understanding of the appearance of diseases and their progression.
• Identify the modelling and optimisation of those programming languages most commonly used in the field of Life Sciences, so as to develop and evaluate techniques and/or computational tools.
  • Know the existing techniques and computational tools in a particular ambit.
  • Evaluate the most appropriate technique and/or computational tool depending on a given situation.
  • Apply the optimal technique and/or computational tool depending on a given situation.
  • Understand and develop algorithms with computer languages.
• Integrate omic and clinical data for a better understanding of biological phenomena.
  • Process, manage at the basic level and interpret omic data (genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics).
  • Objectively analyse data from microarrays, genotypes and/or sequences.
• Apply mathematical foundations, algorithmic principles and theories of computer science within the modelling and design of biological systems.
  • Recognise and use the basic tools of mathematical language.
  • Apply mathematical and biostatistical processing to big biological data.
  • Model biological information in mathematical language for subsequent analysis and processing.
• Computationally analyse DNA, RNA and protein sequences, in addition to carrying out comparative genome analyses.
  • Understand dynamic-programming algorithms and their application to sequence analysis.
  • Understand how similar sequences are identified in a database.
  • Use genomic databases to extract sequences and functional information.
  • Understand the implications of the structure of proteins in the function that they perform.
  • Use dedicated computer programs in the visualisation, analysis and calculation of protein properties.
• Accredit appropriate knowledge, skills and practices in the areas of organism and biosystems biology.
  • Describe models of evolution within and among species and use the requisite computer tools for the study of molecular evolution.
  • List the evolutionary history of human lineage, from its relationship with other primates to the appearance of anatomically modern humans and their adaptation to distinct environments.
• Identify valid and reliable sources of scientific information to substantiate the state of the question for a given bioinformatic problem and in order to address its resolution.
  • Make efficient use of specific tools for researching and handling database resources and information related to biomedicine and bioinformatics.
  • Cite reliable scientific information sources to substantiate the state of the question of a given bioinformatic problem.
• Apply statistical and computational methods to solving problems in the ambits of molecular biology, genomics and medical and population genetics research.
  • Identify and use statistical methods suitable to each type of data.
  • Use the most adequate methods for complex data, with emphasis on dimensionality-reduction methods.
• Develop a business plan in the field of bioinformatics, making use of creativity and innovation.
  • Recognise and explore the attitudes, behaviour and characteristics necessary to carry through successful projects.
  • Draft an appropriate business plan in the field of bioinformatics.
• Participate in the development of a bioinformatic research project, defending both the current state of the question in hand and possible strategies for carrying it out.
  • Propose research hypotheses based on bibliographic data, experiments and computational calculations.
  • Apply elements of decision-making in specific situations.
  • Apply techniques, tools and contemporary skills in the practice of Bioinformatics.

Transversal skills

• Master oral and written communication in English.