Program in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology

The Program in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology (BIB) was established in 2008 at the University of Massachusetts Medical School to address one of the most dynamic and central areas in biomedical research—the ever-increasing quantity of molecular information available to scientists. Rapidly accumulating data on DNA sequences, protein structures and complex signaling networks has created an unprecedented demand for new approaches and a new generation of interdisciplinary scientists.

Under the direction of Dr. Zhiping Weng, professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, the Program will combine resources and faculty expertise in mathematics, computer science, statistics and engineering to explore and understand biological systems through the application and development of computational tools. This new and exciting Program has one overriding goal: to educate talented and highly motivated women and men for leadership in the post-genomic era.

Research in the BIB Program will include systems biology, computational modeling of regulatory and metabolic networks, docking, comparative genomics, protein design, genomic and proteomic biotechnology, microarray engineering and analysis, pharmacogenomics, structural biology, large scale modeling of biological systems, RNA, computational studies of cancer and neurological disorders and functional genomics, synthetic gene networks and molecular computing and genetics. The Program will create an exciting, dynamic environment in which students learn from each other as well as from the faculty. It provides unique interdisciplinary training in the science, engineering, medicine and ethics of 21st century biology.

The Program currently occupies the 10th floor in the Aaron Lazare Medical Research Building, a ten-floor 350,000 square-foot research building which was completed in 2001 and designed to integrate research and teaching in an exciting collaborative environment. Computing facilities included a large, fully-supported Linux cluster. Future plans are to permanently house the BIB Program by 2012, in a new state-of-the-art building, The Albert Sherman Center located next to the LRB, occupying 7,000 square-feet.

The newly established Program in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology invites applications for tenure-track or senior tenured professor positions.