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Overview
The Master of Science in Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary program that combines the application of computer technology to the management and analysis of biological data. The result is that computers are being used to organize data generated from experiments into databases, develop new algorithms and software, and use this software for the interpretation and analysis of the data into meaningful biological information. For the past ten years, our M.Sc. program has been training students to organize, visualize, analyze and interpret biological data. Students have access to world renowned bioinformaticians at the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University and the BC Cancer Agency, and have exposure to the latest technologies to develop their skills.
Strategic Program Objectives:
- To build on British Columbia's reputation and excellence in bioinformatics.
- To integrate bioinformatics into basic biology to further current research excellence in other life science sectors of the province.
- To foster collaborations locally, nationally and internationally.
What makes the program unique?
The Bioinformatics M.Sc. program integrates academic centres in computer science, statistics, molecular biology, and biotechnology, with translational groups at hospitals and at the clinical interface. The innovative partnership among the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University and the BC Cancer Agency allows students access to top experts in the field of bioinformatics, exposure to original research and opportunities to complete significant practical work on real bioinformatics problems. Internships allow student mobility between Canadian and international universities, institutions and industries to further enhance collaborations among Canadian high-technology research groups in both the private and public sectors. Students have done research in various locations over the years such as the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and Mexico, Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Moscow, European Bioinformatics Institute at Cambridge, National University of Singapore and the National Institute of Genetics in Japan.
Quick Facts
Program Enquiries
Contact the program
Admission Information & Requirements
Program Instructions
Students must secure a supervisor before they can be admitted into the program. As well, they must meet the minimum admission requirements set out by Graduate and Post-doctoral Studies at UBC.
1) Check Eligibility
Minimum Academic Requirements
The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies establishes the minimum admission requirements common to all applicants, usually a minimum overall average in the B+ range (76% at UBC). The graduate program that you are applying to may have additional requirements. Please review the specific requirements for applicants with credentials from institutions in:
Each program may set higher academic minimum requirements. Please review the program website carefully to understand the program requirements. Meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee admission as it is a competitive process.
English Language Test
Applicants from a university outside Canada in which English is not the primary language of instruction must provide results of an English language proficiency examination as part of their application. Tests must have been taken within the last 24 months at the time of submission of your application.
Minimum requirements for the two most common English language proficiency tests to apply to this program are listed below:
TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language - internet-based
Overall score requirement: 100
Reading
22
Writing
21
Speaking
21
Listening
22
IELTS: International English Language Testing System
Overall score requirement: 7.0
Reading
6.0
Writing
6.0
Speaking
6.0
Listening
6.0
Other Test Scores
Some programs require additional test scores such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or the Graduate Management Test (GMAT). The requirements for this program are:
The GRE is not required.
Prior degree, course and other requirements
Prior Degree Requirements
Applicants must have a Life-Sciences degree, with significant experience in a quantitative science OR a Computer Science/Math/Engineering/Physics degree with significant experience in Life Sciences. Although work experience may be taken into consideration if the degree is outside these areas.
Document Requirements
CV, Official transcripts, three letters of reference, Official English exam scores (if required)
2) Meet Deadlines
September 2025 Intake
Application Open Date
01 April 2024Canadian Applicants
International Applicants
3) Prepare Application
Transcripts
All applicants have to submit transcripts from all past post-secondary study. Document submission requirements depend on whether your institution of study is within Canada or outside of Canada.
Letters of Reference
A minimum of three references are required for application to graduate programs at UBC. References should be requested from individuals who are prepared to provide a report on your academic ability and qualifications.
Statement of Interest
Many programs require a statement of interest, sometimes called a "statement of intent", "description of research interests" or something similar.
Supervision
Students in research-based programs usually require a faculty member to function as their thesis supervisor. Please follow the instructions provided by each program whether applicants should contact faculty members.
Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for Master of Science in Bioinformatics (MSc)
Citizenship Verification
Permanent Residents of Canada must provide a clear photocopy of both sides of the Permanent Resident card.
4) Apply Online
All applicants must complete an online application form and pay the application fee to be considered for admission to UBC.
Research Information
Program Components
Students who secure an NSERC-CREATE scholarship will undertake a 3-4 month internship that may be local, within Canada or at an international University or Institution.
Research Facilities
Bioinformatics faculty are spread throughout the UBC campus, as well as off-campus at the BC Cancer Research Centre or hospital research labs and Institutions.
Tuition & Financial Support
Tuition
| Fees | Canadian Citizen / Permanent Resident / Refugee / Diplomat | International |
|---|---|---|
| Application Fee | $116.25 | $168.25 |
| Tuition * | ||
| Installments per year | 3 | 3 |
| Tuition per installment | $1,838.57 | $3,230.06 |
| Tuition per year (plus annual increase, usually 2%-5%) | $5,515.71 | $9,690.18 |
| Int. Tuition Award (ITA) per year (if eligible) | $3,200.00 (-) | |
| Other Fees and Costs | ||
| Student Fees (yearly) | $1,116.60 (approx.) | |
| Costs of living | Estimate your costs of living with our interactive tool in order to start developing a financial plan for your graduate studies. | |
All fees for the year are subject to adjustment and UBC reserves the right to change any fees without notice at any time, including tuition and student fees. Tuition fees are reviewed annually by the UBC Board of Governors. In recent years, tuition increases have been 2% for continuing domestic students and between 2% and 5% for continuing international students. New students may see higher increases in tuition. Admitted students who defer their admission are subject to the potentially higher tuition fees for incoming students effective at the later program start date. In case of a discrepancy between this webpage and the UBC Calendar, the UBC Calendar entry will be held to be correct.
Financial Support
Applicants to UBC have access to a variety of funding options, including merit-based (i.e. based on your academic performance) and need-based (i.e. based on your financial situation) opportunities.
Program Funding Packages
All students accepted by a faculty member and enrolled in the program will be paid a minimum stipend of $24,300/year.
Scholarships & awards (merit-based funding)
All applicants are encouraged to review the awards listing to identify potential opportunities to fund their graduate education. The database lists merit-based scholarships and awards and allows for filtering by various criteria, such as domestic vs. international or degree level.
Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA)
Many professors are able to provide Research Assistantships (GRA) from their research grants to support full-time graduate students studying under their supervision. The duties constitute part of the student's graduate degree requirements. A Graduate Research Assistantship is considered a form of fellowship for a period of graduate study and is therefore not covered by a collective agreement. Stipends vary widely, and are dependent on the field of study and the type of research grant from which the assistantship is being funded.
Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTA)
Graduate programs may have Teaching Assistantships available for registered full-time graduate students. Full teaching assistantships involve 12 hours work per week in preparation, lecturing, or laboratory instruction although many graduate programs offer partial TA appointments at less than 12 hours per week. Teaching assistantship rates are set by collective bargaining between the University and the Teaching Assistants' Union.
Graduate Academic Assistantships (GAA)
Academic Assistantships are employment opportunities to perform work that is relevant to the university or to an individual faculty member, but not to support the student’s graduate research and thesis. Wages are considered regular earnings and when paid monthly, include vacation pay.
Financial aid (need-based funding)
Canadian and US applicants may qualify for governmental loans to finance their studies. Please review eligibility and types of loans.
All students may be able to access private sector or bank loans.
Foreign government scholarships
Many foreign governments provide support to their citizens in pursuing education abroad. International applicants should check the various governmental resources in their home country, such as the Department of Education, for available scholarships.
Working while studying
The possibility to pursue work to supplement income may depend on the demands the program has on students. It should be carefully weighed if work leads to prolonged program durations or whether work placements can be meaningfully embedded into a program.
International students enrolled as full-time students with a valid study permit can work on campus for unlimited hours and work off-campus for no more than 20 hours a week.
A good starting point to explore student jobs is the UBC Work Learn program or a Co-Op placement.
Tax credits and RRSP withdrawals
Students with taxable income in Canada may be able to claim federal or provincial tax credits.
Canadian residents with RRSP accounts may be able to use the Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP) which allows students to withdraw amounts from their registered retirement savings plan (RRSPs) to finance full-time training or education for themselves or their partner.
Please review Filing taxes in Canada on the student services website for more information.
Cost Estimator
Applicants have access to the cost estimator to develop a financial plan that takes into account various income sources and expenses.
Career Options
Enrolment, Duration & Other Stats
These statistics show data for the Master of Science in Bioinformatics (MSc). Data are separated for each degree program combination. You may view data for other degree options in the respective program profile.
ENROLMENT DATA
| 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Applications | 125 | 135 | 151 | 114 | 105 |
| Offers | 17 | 17 | 18 | 28 | 21 |
| New Registrations | 15 | 13 | 15 | 22 | 19 |
| Total Enrolment | 37 | 49 | 46 | 45 | 36 |
Completion Rates & Times
Disclaimer
Research Supervisors
Supervision
Students in research-based programs usually require a faculty member to function as their thesis supervisor. Please follow the instructions provided by each program whether applicants should contact faculty members.
Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for Master of Science in Bioinformatics (MSc)
Advice and insights from UBC Faculty on reaching out to supervisors
These videos contain some general advice from faculty across UBC on finding and reaching out to a supervisor. They are not program specific.
This list shows faculty members with full supervisory privileges who are affiliated with this program. It is not a comprehensive list of all potential supervisors as faculty from other programs or faculty members without full supervisory privileges can request approvals to supervise graduate students in this program.
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Munzner, Tamara (Human-centered computing; visualization; information visualization; visual analytics; data science)
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Murphy, Michael (Bacteriology; Enzymes (including kinetics and mechanisms, and biocatalyst); Alternatives to antibiotics; Bacterial pathogenesis; Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms; Functional and Structural Proteomics; Microbial metal metabolism)
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Ng, Raymond Tak-yan (Data mining and analysis, health informatics, text summarization, text mining)
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Otto, Sarah (evolution, mathematical modeling, population genetics, genomic evolution, evolution of sex, yeast experimental evolution, Population genetics and evolutionary biology, yeast)
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Overall, Christopher Mark (Blood research, antiviral immunity)
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Park, Yongjin (Other basic medicine and life sciences; High dimensional data analysis; Biostatistical methods; Bioinformatics; single-cell genomics; Computational Biology; Causal inference; Bayesian machine learning)
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Pavlidis, Paul (Neurosciences, medical and physiological and health aspects; Engineering and technology; genomics; Bioinformatics; cellular and molecular neuroscience; Genetics; disorders of the nervous system; single-cell genomics; Computational Biology; Gene regulation)
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Plotkin, Steven (Biophysics theory and computation )
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Rieseberg, Loren (Bioinformatics; Genomics; Plant biology; adaptation; crops; invasive plants; plant evolutionary biology; speciation; weeds)
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Roth, Andrew (Bioinformatics; Cancer Evolution; Cancer omics data; computational statistics; Computational Biology; computational methods for studying clonal population structures and tumour evolution; Evolutionary cancer biology; genomics; Machine Learning; Methodological work in computational statistics; Molecular Oncology)
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Singh, Amritpal (Other basic medicine and life sciences; single cell multiomics; single cell spatial multiomics; data integration; Machine Learning; Biomarkers; heart and lung disease; High dimensional data analysis; Bioinformatics)
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Steidl, Christian (Hematological tumours; Cancer; Cancer biology; Pathology; lymphoma; tumor microenvironment; Precision Medicine; genomics)
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Steif, Adi (Bioinformatics; Algorithms and computational genomics; Genomics; Cancer genetics; Mechanisms of carcinogenesis; Cancer progression and metastasis; Statistical methods for high throughput data; High dimensional data analysis; Computational Biology; Machine Learning; Cancer Genomics; Single cell sequencing; Tumour evolution; Genomic technology development)
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Suttle, Curtis (Bioinformatics; Fisheries sciences; Immunology; Microbiology; Oceanography; Plant biology; Biological Oceanography; Environmental Virology; Marine Environment; Marine Microbiology; Microbial Diversity; Phage; Viral Discovery; Viruses)
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Swindale, Nicholas Vaughan (Bioinformatics; Neurosciences, biological and chemical aspects; Neurosciences, medical and physiological and health aspects; Eye and Visual System Diseases; Neuronal Modeling; Neuronal Systems; Visual System)
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Takei, Fumio (Molecular immunology, cancer, cell-cell interactions)
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Talhouk, Aline (Human reproduction and development sciences; Computer Science and Statistics; Epidemiology; Bioinformatics; Cancer of the Reproductive System; diagnostic models; Digital health; Machine Learning; personalized medicine; prevention; Privacy)
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Tam, Roger (Machine learning; Biomedical signal processing; Biomedical Design and Innovation; Biomedical Technologies; Computer Science and Statistics; Data Analytics; Medical Imaging; Machine Learning; Neurodegenerative diseases; Precision Medicine; Radiology)
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Tokuyama, Maria (Virology; Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs); Chronic interaction between viruses and the immune system)
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Tremlett, Helen (Epidemiology (except nutritional and veterinary epidemiology); multiple sclerosis; Neuroepidemiology; Pharmacoepidemiology; prodrome,; Drug safety and effectiveness; Pharmacogenomics; comorbidities; health administrative data; Gut microbiome; prodromes)
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Tropini, Carolina (Immunology; Medical and biomedical engineering; Microbiology; Bacteria; Bacteriophages; Bioengineering; Bioinformatics; Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms; Biophysics; Gut microbiota; Inflammatory bowel disease)
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Vallance, Bruce (Enteric bacterial pathogens, innate immunity, instestinal inflammation, host defense, inflammatory bowel disease, immunity in health and disease)
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Velenosi, Thomas (Pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences, n.e.c.; Cancer drug development and therapeutics; Cancer molecular targets; Metabolomics; Lipid biology (including lipidomics); Pharmacometabolomics; Pharmacology; Lipidomics; mass spectrometry; Cancer; Stable isotope tracing; Bioinformatics)
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Wang, Zhen (Signal processing theory and applications, bioinformatics)
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Wasserman, Wyeth (Medical, health and life sciences; Medical and biomedical engineering; Creation of computational methods for the analysis of genome sequences (bioinformatics); Study of cis-regulatory elements controlling gene transcription; Applied analyses of genome sequences (genomics); Indigenous genomics)
Pages
Sample Thesis Submissions
Further Information
Specialization
Bioinformatics combines computational and biological disciplines.
Program Website
Faculty Overview
Academic Unit
Program Identifier
Classification
September 2025 Intake
Program Enquiries
Contact the program
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