The Bioinformatics Concentration is designed for students interested in the computational discovery and management of biological data, primarily genomic, proteomic, or metabolomic data. The Concentration emphasizes computational, statistical, and other mathematical approaches for depicting (modeling) and analyzing high-throughput biological data and the inherent structure of biological information. Example research problems include: finding statistical patterns that reveal genomic, evolutionary, and developmental information; or studying how regulatory sequences give rise to programs of gene expression.
Biological Data Sciences Concentration
The Biological Data Sciences Concentration tackles a diverse set of biological questions–ranging from medicine, to genomics, to physiology, to pharmacology, to neuroscience, to ecology, and evolution–using recent tools and advances in mathematics and computation–specifically machine learning, statistical data sciences, and informatics. This concentration leverages new and developing courses within CaSB and across UCLA and will greatly aid students aiming to go directly into industry–biotech, pharmaceuticals, and more–as well as computational biology graduate school. This concentration has a strong focus and deep integration with life sciences.
Biomedical Systems Concentration
The Biomedical Systems concentration is for students interested primarily in medical system studies; the systems aspects of biomedical, surgical, or other biomedical engineering system devices–including MEMS or nanoscale system devices; as well as use of dynamic biosystem modeling for optimizing or developing new clinical diagnostic or therapeutic protocols. Example research problems include feedback biocontrol system model development for imaging-based medical diagnosis, and optimal control of therapeutic drug delivery.
The Neurosystems Concentration is designed for students interested primarily in the nervous system, or quantitative neurophysiology, with emphasis on: neural system networks that control behavior at molecular, cellular, and whole-organism levels; neural information and control systems; and systems electrophysiology and neural electronic systems for controlling prostheses. Example research problems include: analysis of (real) neural networks in normal and abnormal brain function, design of prosthetic systems for hearing (cochlear implant) and walking (spinal cord stimulation) recovery, and MEMS-based brain-machine interface devices.
The Systems Biology Concentration is designed for students who want to understand biological systems holistically and quantitatively and who want to pursue research with emphasis on systems and integrative principles in biology. The curriculum in this Concentration imparts an understanding of systems biology (often called the new physiology) using dynamical systems, control, computer simulation, and other computational methods–integrated with biology.