The completion of the human genome sequence early in the 21st century marked the beginning of a new era of biological research. Since that time, life sciences research has generated an explosion of big data, with biology becoming an increasingly quantitative science. Computational approaches, in combination with experimental methods, have become essential for generating novel hypotheses, deriving new scientific knowledge, and driving discovery and innovation.
The bioinformatics market is projected to reach $21 billion by 2026. As Big Data is pouring out of life sciences research, it is creating ample opportunities for scientists with expertise in bioinformatics, computer science, and related skill sets. Big pharma, biotech, and software companies are clamoring to hire professionals with experience in bioinformatics and the management, analysis, and visualization of huge amounts of biological and health care information.
The University of Delaware’s Bioinformatics Certificate, Master’s, and PhD educational programs aim to train the next generation of researchers and professionals who will play a key role in multi- and interdisciplinary teams, bridging life sciences and computational sciences. The program is administered through its academic home, the Department of Computer & Information Sciences (CIS), and is coordinated by the Center for Bioinformatics & Computational Biology (CBCB). The scientific curriculum is built upon the research and educational strength from departments across the Colleges of Arts & Sciences, Engineering, Agriculture & Natural Resources, Health Sciences, and Earth, Ocean & Environment.
A special feature of the program is the close research collaboration among participating Departments across Colleges. Faculty from the various participating disciplines in these departments allow graduate students to gain research and professional expertise in bioinformatics and computational biology in multi- and interdisciplinary teams.
Another feature of the center is the research support provided through the CBCB Bioinformatics Core Facility, which provides expertise and computational infrastructural support necessary to empower life science and biomedical researchers at UD and our Delaware INBRE partner institutions to pursue lines of research dependent upon application of bioinformatic and data science approaches. Our Core is staffed by a group of bioinformatics scientists, data analysts, and software engineers with broad expertise in bioinformatics, computational biology, data sciences, and scientific software development. Leveraging this expertise, we have developed a series of analytical pipelines addressing a broad range of informatically-enabled approaches in the biomedical and life sciences. The Core extensively leverages the resources, tools, and expertise of our partners at the Delaware Biotechnology institute providing high performance computational resources; the Protein Information Resource to provide enhanced contextual metadata aiding in biological interpretation; and the Data Science Institute to incorporate data management and analytics techniques, including the use of machine learning-based approaches for predictive modeling.
Accomplishments
Data Science Leader
Cathy Wu, director of UD’s Data Science Institute, discusses the future of this fast-growing field.
Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for the Masses
UD Prof. Rudolf Eigenmann is part of $20 million NSF cyberinfrastructure project.
High Performance Computing Leader
The Exascale Computing Project selects Sunita Chandrasekaran as principal investigator of the SOLLVE Project.
Studying the virus in real time
During a pandemic, curriculum becomes more real for computational biology students.
Making way for the whole student
Rising Honors junior Kristina Holsapple wins 2021 George and Margaret Seitz ‘We Are Blue Hens’ award.
Final beam raised in fintech building
Financial innovation hub emerges on UD’s STAR Campus.
EXPANDING OPPORTUNITIES
There are a number of initiatives that the new Chair will be able to leverage at the STAR Campus, including the FinTech Innovation Hub, the Chemours Discovery Hub, as well as the Ammon Pinizzotto Biopharmaceutical Innovation Center that houses the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL), which just received $153 million in new federal funding in 2021.
Biopharmaceutical Innovation
Biopharmaceuticals are revolutionizing medicine. These treatments, which rely on living cells for their production, have been crucial in helping the world gain the upper hand in the battle against COVID-19. Other biopharmaceuticals are highly effective in treating and preventing cancer, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, and bacterial and viral infections.
The Ammon Pinizzotto Biopharmaceutical Innovation Center is the scientific epicenter for UD’s biopharmaceutical science initiative. The state-of-the-art facility brings together academia, industry and government to create an interdisciplinary hub of discovery, innovation and industrial practices based on a collaborative approach.
National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL)
The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL) is a public-private partnership whose mission is to accelerate biopharmaceutical innovation, support the development of standards that enable more efficient and rapid manufacturing capabilities, and educate and train a world-leading biopharmaceutical manufacturing workforce, fundamentally advancing U.S. competitiveness in this industry. NIIMBL is part of Manufacturing USA®, a diverse network of federally-sponsored manufacturing innovation institutes, and is funded through a cooperative agreement with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the U.S. Department of Commerce with significant additional support from its members.
Data Science Institute
As the vast resource of new and diverse datasets are rapidly becoming available in nearly every aspect of life, data science has the potential to advance human understanding in all branches of science and humanities, and, address grand challenges facing society. The Institute plans to combine disparate, dynamic, and distributed datasets and enable everything from predicting the future behavior of complex systems to precise medical treatments, smart energy usage, and focused educational curricula.
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