The 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 is 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).
Computational biology is a field of research that develops methods for computational problems in molecular biology, molecular genetics and biotechnology. Bioinformatics refers to the development and utilisation of (molecular) biological databases. Biometry investigates convoluted statistical modelling problems related to genetic mapping, for example, or to the genetic and environmental risk factors of complex diseases, or to the spreading of infectious diseases. Further topics include population dynamics and numerical taxonomy of ecological and genetic phenomena.
In 2007, there were a total of 35 full-time post-graduate students in ComBi. Of these 35, 11 (35 %) were foreigners and 15 (43 %) were women. The ComBi post-graduates attended numerous international courses and conferences. ComBi is one of the co-founders of a European congress series for post-graduates, BREW (Bioinformatics Research and Education Workshop), which met for the fifth time in the UK in April. During 2007, three ComBi research students defended their PhD theses.
Contact person: University Lecturer Heikki Lokki
Homepage: http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/combi/