More information about Bioinformatics

<p>Can anyone give me more information about bioinformatics like what you do, what kind of knowledge is necessary? There isn't much on cc and throughout the internet. Based on formal definitions I have a hard time understanding what it is that bioinformaticians actually do or learn.
More emphasis on CS or Bio or Math?</p>

<p>Also is this a major you pursue while an undergraduate, or do you typically take CS with extra biology and then do bioinformatics as a graduate? I mostly ask this because not that many universities offer this major in comparison to much more common majors.</p>

<p>Any help is appreciated.</p>

<p>Hi im a student at Carnegie Mellon University studying BS in Computational Biology. You can check out their (outdated, the CS courses are changed but everything else is still valid) curriculum here: [New</a> Degree Program in Computational Biology](<a href=“http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mjs/cb-overview.html]New”>B.S. in Computational Biology)</p>

<p>At CMU, the level of CS vs Bio is almost split down to exact half. You would end up taking most (if not all) the core programming classes that CS majors would have to take. Your bio education will focus more on genetics than traditional bio majors. At CMU, you only take 1 sem of physics and orgo chem (vs 2 of each for bio) and fewer labs than bio majors.</p>

<p>For math studies, you definitely need to study matrix algebra (for bioinformatics) and differential equations (for modeling). you also study discrete math (for computer science component). </p>

<p>CMU’s BS in Comp Bio is one of many special cases where this field is offered as full undergraduate. Most cases, the degrees are offered as grad or biology majors with concentrations in bioinformatics. If you would like to know more information, feel free to contact me by message</p>