In order to keep pace with recent developments in genomics and proteomics, biology must develop and teach new tools so our students will have the skills to enter this burgeoning job market. As one example, to find out who is hiring, how much you are worth, and online hiring trends, see biohealthmatics.com.

Central to these new technologies is bioinformatics, a field that did not exist a decade ago. No one predicted the collision of two fundamental technologies: molecular biology and small fast computers. Biology is now publishing more than 50,000 pages of literature per day. Over 125,000 different genomic sequences have been submitted to the North American GenBank (the world wide repository of genetic sequence information database) IN A SINGLE DAY. 10 years ago there were only two bacteria fully sequenced. Now there are 820 fully sequenced life forms, including 152 eukaryotes (one of which is Homo sapiens), 109 bacteria and more than 550 viruses. We now have full sequences for the mouse, the fruit fly and brewers yeast. Biologists are literally in danger of drowning in their own success.

This absolutely necessitates the creation of new tools that allow us to move through all this information and make some sense of it. This requires very fast computers, very clever programming and well educated operators. The field is now known as bioinformatics, and some universities now have whole Bioinformatics Departments offering Ph.D. programs in this area. It has become one of the most sought after degrees by the pharmaceutical industry where all molecular research groups now include one bioinformaticist. Most NIH and NSF grants to universities dealing with sequence information have a similar bias.

At UWF, this course is based on a hands-on approach that I hope will develop your interests in scientific discovery.The course is also structured to involve you in meaningful ways with practical (and exciting) aspects of real research in bioinformatics, by showcasing UWF faculty in various modules using computer-based tools to enhance their research.

What do former students say about this class? Here is one example:

"I listed you as one of my contacts for reference and there is a professor at LSU's Coastal Fisheries Institute and Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences that [is] interested in me...his work involves [sic] population modeling. He has told me that his students do a lot of programming and that he is aware of the work that I did in Bioinformatics. I really am glad that I took your class because as it turns out my experiences in that class may help me get an assistantship..."