# Bioinformatics major

**Source**: https://cumming.ucalgary.ca/bhsc/future-students/binf
**Parent**: https://cumming.ucalgary.ca/bhsc

Explore the intersection of “big data” and health

[How to apply](https://www.ucalgary.ca/future-students/undergraduate/apply)

## Bioinformatics Overview

**Bioinformatics is the use of computational approaches and tools to answer questions about biology and medicine. This four-year major in the Bachelor of Health Sciences program will provide the essential skills to engage in a career at the intersection of computer science and the biological and health sciences.**

Beginning with foundational courses in computer science, biology, chemistry, and math, this major will gradually synthesize these historically distinct fields into the modern, fast-moving, practice we know as bioinformatics.

Because of the dramatic improvements in recent years in computer science and biotechnology, it is an exciting time to be a bioinformatician; the scale and depth of the questions we can answer is unprecedented and stands only to grow in the near future.

Specialists in bioinformatics can engage with a huge variety of projects across the life sciences, from analyzing ancient genomes, to examining the molecular variation and causes of disease, to simulating all manner of biological systems – from individual molecules to whole ecosystems – to name just a few.

The bioinformatics major in the BHSc program provides one of the best opportunities to engage with the modern “big data” world, which is poised to dramatically disrupt the health sciences in particular (both in terms of research and clinical delivery).

## Careers of our Bioinformatics alumni

Business Analyst

Computer System Analyst

Entrepreneur/Biotech Founder

Genome Sequence Analyst

Graphic Designer - 3D, UI/UX

Medical Imaging

Physician

Research Engineer

Software Developer

## Where our alumni have gone to study

Erasmus University (Netherlands)

McGill University

Newcastle University (UK)

Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden)

University of Alberta

University of British Columbia

University of Leicester (UK)

University of Toronto

University of Waterloo

.....and many more

[Learn more about our alumni](https://cumming.ucalgary.ca/education/bhsc/alumni)

### 'Life-changing' experience as undergrad researcher takes 2nd in poster competition at Edinburgh conference

Bioinformatics student Noelle Thundathil presented her research findings with support from Graeme Bell Travel Award

[Continue reading](https://www.ucalgary.ca/news/life-changing-experience-undergrad-researcher-takes-2nd-poster-competition-edinburgh-conference)

## Bioinformatics Program Outline

[Bioinformatics Program](https://cumming.ucalgary.ca/education/bhsc/future-students/majors/binf/program-outline)

## Bioinformatics Minor

For more information on the Bioinformatics Minor, please visit the University of Calgary calendar [here](https://calendar.ucalgary.ca/programs/BINF-MIN).

To apply for the Bioinformatics Minor, please fill out the Statement of Interest.

[Statement of Interest template](https://cumming.ucalgary.ca/sites/default/files/teams/2/binf-minor-supplementary-application_0.pdf)

Bioinformatics lies at the intersection of biology, computer science, data science, and math. Using bioinformatics, we transform biological data into insights that drive scientific discovery and medical advancement

Dr. Constance Li

Assistant Director of Bioinformatics

## Start your journey

[Admission requirements and information](https://www.ucalgary.ca/future-students/undergraduate/explore-programs/bioinformatics)