{"id":5103,"date":"2024-03-24T16:32:52","date_gmt":"2024-03-24T15:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubc.uu.nl\/?page_id=5103"},"modified":"2026-07-07T11:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T09:23:09","slug":"master-bioinformatics-and-biocomplexity","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ubc.uu.nl\/master-bioinformatics-and-biocomplexity\/","title":{"rendered":"Master Bioinformatics and Biocomplexity"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Utrecht Bioinformatics Center
Master Bioinformatics and Biocomplexity<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead more about the programme on the UU website<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Course schedule<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A little bit of how to read the list of courses below:<\/p>

In your masters you will have a Theoretical component of\u00a015 EC<\/strong>, with the obligatory courses. This is the essentials course and either introduction to Modelling or Bioinformatics and Genomics, depending on your previous education. Together this amounts up to\u00a09.5<\/strong>\u00a0EC. \u00a0This means you have\u00a05.5<\/strong> EC left, which you have to fill up with the courses from the list on the bottom of the page (except for the intro R and Python, those are not part of the masters program). These are the official Bioinformatics and BioComplexity (BiBC) courses. \u00a0In Period 1 the two main theoretical courses are given. Normally course enrolments for period 1 are already in May which is too early for those who start in September, therefore the coordinator of the master program will enrol you instead. So as a starting student (year 1 of the masters) you don\u2019t need to worry about the first courses!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Below you will see a schedule, this schedule is made to help you plan, not as an exact \u2026\u00a0this is the way it has to be.<\/em>. list. Because if you add up all the EC\u2019s of the courses listed you will go well beyond 15EC.. \u00a0Luckily you also have an ELECTIVE component which is\u00a012<\/strong>\u00a0EC in total. You\u00a0may<\/strong>\u00a0fill those 12 EC with our bioinformatics courses, but you are also allowed to look elsewhere at what is offered at the University! (use this link to search the course catalogus<\/a><\/strong>)<\/p>

As mentioned above, we have decided to offer all our Bioinformatics courses in Period 1, 2 and Period 3, and were possible back to back without much overlap. Again you can also choose other courses (for the electives), that is fine, but you have to schedule them yourselves. They may overlap, or even been given in a different period. This is not a problem, but it is up to you to make it work in your schedule. Also important to know, it is not\u00a0a problem to combine your major research project with courses! Actually that is the way to do it.<\/u><\/b><\/p>

It is the idea is that you start a Major Research Project around\u00a0December<\/b>, that would be most efficient. Perhaps you have seen a great group and topic? And maybe that topic requires you to learn a little bit more about a certain bioinformatics or biocomplexity item which is possibly given in one of our courses \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Updated July 2026<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Theoretical (obligatory) courses (Osiris numbers can be found in the column Course code).<\/p>

Course name<\/th>EC<\/th>Course code<\/th>Time frame<\/th>Timeslot<\/th>Notes<\/th><\/tr>
GSLS introduction week (ILS)<\/td>–<\/td>–<\/td>07-09-2026 to 09-05-2026<\/td>Fulltime 1 week<\/td>Mandatory<\/b> \u00a0week<\/td><\/tr>
BiBC Essentials<\/td>4.5<\/td>B-MBIOCES<\/td>14-09-2026 to 27-10-2026<\/td>B\/C<\/td>Mandatory for all BiBC students
Exam in the \u00a0week of 20 to 24 October 2025<\/td><\/tr>
Introduction to Biological Modelling *<\/td>5<\/td>B-MBIOINBM<\/td>14-09-2026 to 30-10-2026<\/td>A\/D*<\/td>Exam in the \u00a0week of 20 to 24 October 2025<\/span><\/td><\/tr>
Bioinformatics and Genomics *<\/td>5<\/td>B-MBIOGEN<\/td>14-09-2025 to 30-10-2025<\/td>A\/D*<\/td>Exam in the \u00a0week of 20 to 24 October 2025<\/span><\/td><\/tr>
Poster session and social event for 1st & 2nd year BiBC students**<\/td>–<\/td>–<\/td>OCTOBER 2nd 2026<\/b><\/td>–<\/td>Mandatory<\/b> for all BiBC students<\/td><\/tr>
Bioinformatics and Evolutionaire Genomics<\/td>3<\/td>B-MBIEG06<\/td>02-11-2024 to 12-11-2024<\/td>–<\/td>Fulltime 2 weeks<\/td><\/tr>
Advanced Bioinformatics<\/td>3<\/td>B-MADR19<\/td>02-11-2024 to 12-11-2024<\/td>–<\/td>Fulltime 2 weeks<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>

* Together with the coordinator it will be decided which course you will follow.
** The now 2nd year students will present their internships to the 1st year students. Posters of the Major\/Minor research projects will be presented and a social event with all students will be organized.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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Course name<\/th>EC<\/th>Course code<\/th>Time frame<\/th>Timeslot<\/th>Notes<\/th><\/tr>
Modeling Life<\/td>7.5<\/td>B-MBIMODLI<\/span><\/td>16-11-2026 to 05-02-2026<\/td>B\/C<\/td>Replaces the ‘old’ biological modeling course. This is a new course<\/td><\/tr>
Microbial Genomics<\/td>4.5<\/td>B-MBIMIGE<\/td>16-11-2026 to 04-12-2025<\/td>Fulltime 3 weeks<\/td>–<\/td><\/tr>
Basic Machine Learning<\/td>4.5<\/td>B-MBIOBMLB<\/td>07-12-2026 to 08-01-2027<\/td>Fulltime 2 weeks\u00a0<\/td>With a 2 week X-mas holiday break 21-12 till \u00a003-01<\/td><\/tr>
\u00a0Holiday Break<\/td>–<\/td>–<\/td>\u00a021-12-2026 to 01-01-2027<\/td>–<\/td>–<\/td><\/tr>
Structural Bioinformatics<\/td>4.5<\/td>SK-MCBIM21<\/td>18-01-2027 to 05-02-2027<\/td>Fulltime 3 weeks<\/td>–<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Preferably you now have also started with your Major Research Project, Minor, Writing assignment and so on.<\/p>

Course name<\/th>EC<\/th>Course code<\/th>Time frame<\/th>Timeslot<\/th>Notes<\/th><\/tr>
Computational Biology<\/td>7.5<\/td>B-MCOBI17<\/td>08-02-2027 to 23-04-2027<\/td>B\/C (full period!)<\/td>–<\/td><\/tr>
System tipping points: bifurcations\u00a0<\/b><\/td>3.0<\/td>B-MBIOSTP<\/span><\/td>08-02-2027 to 19-02-2027<\/td>Fulltime 2 weeks<\/td>required level: Intro to biological modeling or similar<\/td><\/tr>
Microbiome course (bi-annual) <new 2026> (not in 2027)<\/b><\/td>3.0<\/td>BMB503625 (3 EC) \u00a0<\/span><\/td>02-02-2026 to 13-02-2026<\/span><\/td>Fulltime 2 weeks<\/td>New course<\/td><\/tr>
Advanced Bioinformatics\u00a0<\/td>1.5<\/td>BMB502114<\/td>19-04-2027 to 23-04-2027<\/td>Fulltime 1<\/td>\u00a0<\/td><\/tr>
Cancer Genomics<\/td>3<\/td>BMB521219<\/td>08-03-2027 to 19-03-2026<\/td>Fulltime 2 weeks<\/td>–<\/td><\/tr>
Analytics and Algorithms<\/span><\/td>3<\/td>BMB508219<\/span><\/span><\/td>22-03-2027 to 02-04-2026<\/span><\/td>Fulltime 2 weeks<\/span><\/td>–<\/td><\/tr>
Advanced Omics<\/span><\/td>3<\/td>BMB502324<\/span><\/span><\/td>05-04-2027 to 16-04-2026<\/span><\/td>Fulltime 2 weeks<\/span><\/td>\u00a0<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>
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Preferably you now have also started with your Major Research Project, Minor, Writing assignment and so on.<\/p>\n

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Course name<\/th>\nEC<\/th>\nCourse code<\/th>\nTime frame<\/th>\nTimeslot<\/th>\nNotes<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
AI and ML in Life Sciences<\/td>\n3<\/td>\nB-MBIOAML<\/span>
<\/td>\n		17-05-2026 to 04-06-2026<\/td>\n3 weeks fulltime<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Name<\/th>Osiris<\/th><\/tr>
Modeling Life<\/td>B-MBIMODLI<\/td><\/tr>
Bioinformatics and Evolutionary genomics<\/td>B-MBIEG06<\/td><\/tr>
Structural Bioinformatics and Modelling<\/td>SK-MSTBIMO<\/td><\/tr>
Advanced R for the Life Sciences<\/td>B-MADR19<\/td><\/tr>
Advanced Omics for Life Science<\/td>BMB502324<\/b><\/td><\/tr>
Advanced Bioinformatics for Life Sciences<\/td>BMB502114<\/td><\/tr>
Introduction to research data management for the life sciences (renewed, 4.5 EC online course)<\/td>B-MBIOIRDM<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Analytics and Algorithms for Omics data<\/td>BMB508219<\/td><\/tr>
Microbial Genomics<\/td>B-MCMIGE<\/td><\/tr>
Cancer Genomics<\/td>BMB521219<\/td><\/tr>
Bioinformatica en Genoom analyse<\/td>BWM33316<\/td><\/tr>
Essentials (Master Cursus)<\/td>B-MBIOCES<\/td><\/tr>
Biological Modelling<\/td>B-MBIMOD<\/td><\/tr>
Bioinformatics and Genomics<\/td>B-MBIOGEN<\/td><\/tr>
Basic Machine Learning<\/td>B-MBIOMLB<\/td><\/tr>
Bifurcation: Systems tipping points<\/td>B-MBIOSTP<\/td><\/tr>
Genes 2 Organisms***<\/td>SK-MCSB<\/td><\/tr>
Systems Biology***<\/td>B-B1SYSB09<\/td><\/tr>
Microbiome<\/td>BMV-503625<\/td><\/tr>
Genes 2 Organisms***<\/td>SK-MCSB<\/td><\/tr>

UPCOMING:<\/p>

Adv. Machine Learning and AI for Life<\/span><\/div><\/td>
B-MBIOAML<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>

*** these are bachelor courses and can only be followed as a mandatory component in case you have some deficiencies in your background knowledge.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUnofficial Study Guide<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t

This study guide has been created by ConneCie, the students of BiBC.<\/p>