Background

Bioinformatics is a transformative science that is at the crux of interdisciplinary research. With the advancements in molecular biology, genomics, genetics and medical sciences, there is currently a high demand for bioinformaticians worldwide, which is unmet, in-part due to shortage in the supply of qualified and trained bioinformaticians. In Malaysia, a number of undergraduate degree programmes have been offered by the local institutions of higher learning to meet this demand locally, however, the necessary broad nature of these programmes makes transition to workplace or further education difficult for majority of the students. We present herein a one-year Postgraduate Diploma Programme to provide students with a strong foundation in bioinformatics.

Method

The curriculum for the programme was developed over two years, in consultation with leading academic and industry experts of the field and also students from the life science field with interest in bioinformatics. The process, procedures and mechanisms for the curriculum design included a comprehensive 11 step-wise strategy.

Results

The programme comprises 10 courses to be covered over three-trimesters for a foundation in bioinformatics for students from a pure biology or pure computer science background. The first trimester is designed to establish a common base by focussing on critical thinking, scientific communication and overview of the core discipline areas. In  the second trimester, students experience interdisciplinary courses that connect the core discpline areas. These courses are aimed to prepare the students for their research mini-project in the third trimester. All courses are taught in a sequential order, except for the research seminar (starts in first trimester and ends in the second) and the mini-project (preparations start in the second trimester).

Discussions

The programme is designed with the over-arching goal to empower bioscientists the ability to develop and/or apply innovative bioinformatics solutions to solve biological problems by providing them the foundation necessary to manage and mine the wealth of available biological data for knowledge discovery. The programme aims to provide a balance between theoretical understandings and practical skills, with sufficient exposure to research pipeline, from inception and critique of ideas to communication and defence of research findings. The programme is being implemented at Perdana University with first intake of students scheduled for September 2014.