Collaborative Programs
2014-15 SGS Calendar
Genome Biology and Bioinformatics
Lead Faculty
Medicine
Participating Degree Programs
Programs
Doctoral Level
Admission Requirements
Biochemistry—PhD
Biomedical Engineering—PhD
Cell and Systems Biology—PhD
Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry—PhD
Computer Science—PhD
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology—PhD
Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology—PhD
Medical Biophysics—PhD
Medical Science—PhD
Molecular Genetics—PhD
 Applicants who wish to enrol in the collaborative
Overview
Program Requirements
The recent elucidation of the genomes of many organisms
has led to the appreciation that our knowledge of the
function of the proteome and other omes of any given
organism is far from complete. A wide range of
computational, theoretical, biochemical, structural, cell
biological, and genetic approaches need to cooperate to
establish the connections between sequence, structure,
and function. The Collaborative Program in Genome
Biology and Bioinformatics addresses this need for
cooperation with a coherent course of study that educates
and trains doctoral graduate students across these diverse
disciplines. The program serves as a model for a contentdriven, interdepartmental unit that responds to the
University's need to adapt to cutting-edge scientific
developments.
The graduate programs listed above participate in the
Collaborative Program in Genome Biology and
Bioinformatics. Upon successful completion of the PhD
requirements of the participating home department and
the collaborative program, students receive the notation
"Completed Collaborative Program in Genome Biology
and Bioinformatics" on their transcript and parchment.
Contact and Address
Web: www.gbb.utoronto.ca
Email: TBD
Telephone: (416) 978-0774
Collaborative Program in Genome Biology and
Bioinformatics
Department of Biochemistry
University of Toronto
Room 5207, Medical Sciences Building
Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8
Canada
2014-2015 School of Graduate Studies Calendar
www.sgs.utoronto.ca/calendar
program must apply to and be admitted to both the
collaborative program and a graduate degree program in
one of the collaborating departments. Since this is a PhD
program, students must be registered in the doctoral
program of one of the host departments and must be
undertaking research with a significant genome biology
and/or bioinformatics component under the supervision
of a member of the program.
 Complete a PhD thesis and any core courses as
required by the student's host department.
 Complete the interdepartmental courses* or alternates
(one of JBB 2026H, JBZ 1472H, JTB 2010H*, or EEB
1460H; and one of BME 1458H, CSC 2417H, CSC
2418H, CSC 2515H, or JTB 2020H*). The
interdepartmental courses may be taken in place of
some host department PhD course requirements after a
student obtains written permission from the host
department. Courses not included in the course list
below will be considered by the Director on a case-bycase basis. Requests, along with the syllabus of the
course in question, should be submitted to the Director.
 Participate in the seminar series and participate in
collaborative traineeships in which an aggregate time of
two to four months is spent in a collaborating laboratory,
thematically working on an aspect of the thesis project
but with a complementary method. The goal of the
collaborative traineeship is ideally a joint publication
between the two member labs.
Course List
Students should take one genome biology/omics course
(Group I) and one computational biology/bioinformatics
course (Group II) from the following lists. Courses not on
these lists will be considered by the Director on a case-bycase basis. Requests, along with the syllabus of the
course in question, should be submitted to the Director.
Interdepartmental courses mounted by the Genome
Biology and Bioinformatics program are marked with
an asterisk (*).
Genome Biology and Bioinformatics
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Collaborative Programs
Group I
EEB 1460H
Molecular Evolution
JBB 2026H
Protein Structure, Folding and Design
JBZ 1472H
Computational Genomics and
Bioinformatics
JTB 2010H*
Proteomics and Functional Genomics
Group II
BME 1458H
Pattern Discovery Methods for
Biomedical Engineering
CSC 2417H
Algorithms for Genome Sequence
Analysis
CSC 2418H
Computational Structural Biology
CSC 2515H
Machine Learning
JTB 2020H*
Applied Bioinformatics
Program Committee
Biochemistry
Steipe, Boris - MD, PhD
Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering
Yip, Christopher - BSc, PhD
Cell and Systems Biology
Provart, Nicholas - PhD
Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry
Mahadevan, Radhakrishnan - BTech, PhD
Computer Science
Brudno, Michael (Mikhail) - AB, SM, PhD, CRC
Morris, Quaid - BS, PhD (Director)
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Chang, Belinda - AB, PhD, CRC
Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology
Irwin, David - BSc, PhD
Medical Biophysics
Tillier, Elisabeth - BSc, MS, PhD
Molecular Genetics
Emili, Andrew - DPM, PhD
2014-2015 School of Graduate Studies Calendar
www.sgs.utoronto.ca/calendar
Genome Biology and Bioinformatics
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