Annual Report 2009

Annual Report 2009

ComBi Graduate school

The Graduate School in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, and Biometry (ComBi) is a post-graduate programme jointly offered by the Universities of Helsinki, Tampere and Turku as well as the Helsinki University of Technology. The Department of Computer Science at the University of Helsinki was the co-ordinating institution of ComBi. The research goal of ComBi is to develop computational, mathematical, and statistical methods and models for natural sciences. ComBi educates Doctors with high-end methodical expertise, who apply it in their thesis work while developing methods for solving computational, data-analysis and modelling issues in the biosciences. This work is carried out in close co-operation with one or more research groups in the application fields (such as biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics and biotechnology, ecology, research into evolution and systematics, geography, and public health).

In 2009, there were a total of 40 full-time post-graduate students in ComBi. Of these 40, 15 (38 %) were foreign students and 10 (25 %) were women. The ComBi post-graduates attended numerous international courses and conferences. During 2009, six ComBi research students defended their PhD theses.

From the beginning of 2010, ComBi will be fusioned with the Finnish Graduate School in Computational Sciences (FICS).