Last updated 12.08.09

BINFA13757 - Bioinformatics/Biomedical Engineering

Flexible First year - Entry 2006 Onwards

Program Overview

The Bachelor of Engineering and Master of Biomedical Engineering degrees are awarded after five years of study. A BE with Honours is awarded to those who obtain a weighted average mark of at least 65% in the BE part of the program. All students complete at least one major project in their last two years, usually supervised by researchers in the School of Computer Science and Engineering, School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, or Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering.

Anyone who meets the entry requirements for both Bioinformatics Engineering and Biomedical Engineering is eligible to enter the combined program directly in first year, or Credit-average students may apply to transfer from the standard Bioinformatics Engineering plan later, although with late transfer it might not be possible to complete the program in minimum time. Students are expected to maintain a Credit average over their study.

Bioinformatics is an emerging discipline at the convergence of computing and the life sciences aimed at development of technologies for storing, extracting, organising, analysing, interpreting and utilising the 'tsunami' of information being generated. It is truly an interdisciplinary field. Not only have advances in computing helped accelerate the process of data generation, but the need to process and analyse this vast amount of information has led to advances in both software technologies (databases, algorithm design, machine learning and visualisation) and hardware architectures. Additionally, there is considerable interest in Bioinformatics from researchers in medicine and mathematics.

Biomedical engineering is the application of engineering techniques and analyses to problem-solving in medicine and the biomedical sciences. In most aspects of health care, disease prevention and treatment, or rehabilitation, there are problems that require an engineering approach. These may include developing systems to maintain and enhance life, designing replacement parts for people, or creating systems to allow the handicapped to use computers for work and communication. The growing complexity of medical technology has increased the demand for appropriately trained professionals to bridge the gap between clinical medicine and applied medical technology. These personnel must be capable of defining a medical problem in engineering science terms and of finding a solution that satisfies both engineering and medical requirements. Such trained personnel constitute the core of biomedical engineers.

program objectives: Graduates will be able to:

• carry out sophisticated data analysis particularly in the area of biology, which will be to the benefit of society;
• undertake the development of high quality software particularly in the area of data analysis.
• make significant contributions to the development of computing technology, particularly for use in biological data analysis.

assumed knowledge: Assumed knowledge for Mathematics (MATH1131): students will be expected to have achieved the equivalent of a combined mark of at least 100 in HSC Mathematics and HSC Mathematics Extension 1. Failure to meet this required knowledge means that General Mathematics (MATH1011) will have to be taken first. Assumed knowledge for English: at least band 3 in 2 Unit Standard English.

major studies: Computing, maths, biology, bioinformatics (the integration of computing maths and biology).

minor studies: Specialist areas in computing, maths and biology such as: biochemistry, molecular biology, statistics, machine learning, algorithms, visualisation, computer interfacing, networks, databases.

Industrial Experience: At least 60 days of approved industrial training must be completed before completion of the final semester. Industrial Training should be concurrent with enrolment and is best accumulated in the summer recesses at the end of years 2 and 3, but must be completed by the end of year 5.

professional recognition: Accreditation will be sought from the Institution of Engineers (Australia) and the Australian Computer Society

career opportunities: Data analysis and software development in drug companies, biotechnology companies and medical and biological research institutes. Graduates from this course will be also well trained to take up careers in other area of computational data analysis, such as in banks and insurance companies. They could also pursue careers in other more general areas of computing.

Program Structure

The BE (Bioinformatics)/Master of Biomedical Engineering combined degree program is offered jointly through the School of Computer Science and Engineering, the Faculty of Science and the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering. The combined Bachelor of Engineering in Bioinformatics/Master of Biomedical Engineering program allows students to combine the software engineering/molecular biology focus of bioinformatics with the broader engineering and medical emphases of the biomedical engineering program.

Students who are enrolled in a joint program are expected to maintain a credit (65%) average across courses taken from each of the composite programs. Students who do not satisfy this requirement revert to the Bachelor of Engineering program at the end of Stage 3.
The stages of a generic combined program are shown below. It should be noted that it is possible to adapt the program by moving courses, subject to prerequisite requirements and overall program requirements.

Electives

Any BIOC/BIOT/MICR/BABS3xxx course for which prerequisites have been completed can be selected as a 3rd year life science elective. Recommended electives include:

Any COMP2xxx or COMP3xxx course for which prerequisites have been completed can be selected as a 3rd year Computing elective. Recommended electives include: 

Alternatively one of the following MATH courses can be chosen instead of a Computing Elective: 

Any Level 3/4/9 COMP course for which prerequistes have been completed can be selected as computing elective. The computing elective can also be replaced by one of the following Mathematics and Statistics course:

Biomedical Electives 

Please see Biomedical Engineering electives at the GSBmE Web Pages for current courses and outlines.

Note that the BE (bioinformatics) program allows a variation in standard prerequisites for some courses. Bioinformatics students who want to enrol in these courses will need to request manual enrolment after consultation with the program authority.

General Education

UNSW wants all students to develop skills in a broad range of areas, not just in their specific study discipline, and so students in all degrees are required to undertake a number of general studies courses outside their discipline. It may not be possible for Bioinformatics Engineering students to enrol in general education courses that are similar in content to the courses offered in the Bioinformatics Engineering degree. For a comprehensive list, see:

http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/undergrad/current/gened.html

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