Physiology: Bioinformatics (Ph.D.)
Offered by: Physiology (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences)
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy
Program Description
** This program is currently not offered. **
Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.
Thesis
A thesis for the doctoral degree must constitute original scholarship and must be a distinct contribution to knowledge. It must show familiarity with previous work in the field and must demonstrate ability to plan and carry out research, organize results, and defend the approach and conclusions in a scholarly manner. The research presented must meet current standards of the discipline; as well, the thesis must clearly demonstrate how the research advances knowledge in the field. Finally, the thesis must be written in compliance with norms for academic and scholarly expression and for publication in the public domain.
Required Courses (11 credits)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| COMP 616D1 | Bioinformatics Seminar. | 1.5 |
Bioinformatics Seminar. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Introduction to current trends in Bioinformatics and closely related fields such as genomics and proteomics. | ||
| COMP 616D2 | Bioinformatics Seminar. | 1.5 |
Bioinformatics Seminar. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. See COMP 616D1 for description. | ||
| PHGY 604 | Responsible Conduct in Research. | 0 |
Responsible Conduct in Research. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. This course provides students with information on the following areas: 1) an ethics overview; 2) scientific conduct and misconduct; 3) research authorship and peer review; and 4) research on human and animal subjects. | ||
| PHGY 701 | Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination. | 0 |
Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The Ph.D. comprehensive exam will be completed between 12-18 months of commencing the program and is designed to ensure that the student's research encompasses the i) acquisition of a comprehensive knowledge of scientific literature; ii) the development of experimental skills and technical expertise with a deep understanding of the experimental design thus iii) ensuring a high degree of scholarship in the thesis submission. | ||
| PHGY 703 | Ph.D. Progress Seminar 1. | 1 |
Ph.D. Progress Seminar 1. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. The Progress Seminar is a "work in progress" seminar on what the student has accomplished to date. Following completion of the comprehensive exam, the seminar should be presented to the student's supervisory committee as a formal presentation of approximately 30 minutes followed by a question and discussion period. | ||
| PHGY 704 | Ph.D. Progress Seminar 2. | 1 |
Ph.D. Progress Seminar 2. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. A "work in progress" seminar, intended as a report on student progress following the Thesis Proposal Seminar. | ||
| PHGY 720 | Ph.D. Seminar Course 1. | 1 |
Ph.D. Seminar Course 1. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Required for Ph.D. students. Coordinated in conjunction with the weekly Departmental seminar series, students will meet for one hour before each seminar to critically discuss papers on the subject of the weekly seminar. Students will take turns introducing the papers and leading discussions on an overview of the research topic, some of the methodologies, results and conclusions. | ||
| PHGY 721 | Ph.D. Seminar Course 2. | 1 |
Ph.D. Seminar Course 2. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Required for Ph.D. students. Coordinated in conjunction with the weekly Departmental seminar series, students will meet for one hour before each seminar to critically discuss papers on the subject of the weekly seminar. Students will take turns introducing the papers and leading discussions on an overview of the research topic, some of the methodologies, results and conclusions. | ||
| PHGY 722 | Ph.D. Seminar Course 3. | 1 |
Ph.D. Seminar Course 3. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Required for Ph.D. students. Coordinated in conjunction with the weekly Departmental seminar series, students will meet for one hour before each seminar to critically discuss papers on the subject of the weekly seminar. Students will take turns introducing the papers and leading discussions on an overview of the research topic, some of the methodologies, results and conclusions. | ||
| PHGY 723 | Ph.D. Seminar Course 4. | 1 |
Ph.D. Seminar Course 4. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Required for Ph.D. students. Coordinated in conjunction with the weekly Departmental seminar series, students will meet for one hour before each seminar to critically discuss papers on the subject of the weekly seminar. Students will take turns introducing the papers and leading discussions on an overview of the research topic, some of the methodologies, results and conclusions. | ||
| PHGY 724 | Ph.D. Seminar Course 5. | 1 |
Ph.D. Seminar Course 5. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Required for Ph.D. students. Coordinated in conjunction with the weekly Departmental seminar series, students will meet for one hour before each seminar to critically discuss papers on the subject of the weekly seminar. Students will take turns introducing the papers and leading discussions on an overview of the research topic, some of the methodologies, results and conclusions. | ||
| PHGY 725 | Ph.D. Seminar Course 6. | 1 |
Ph.D. Seminar Course 6. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Required for Ph.D. students. Coordinated in conjunction with the weekly Departmental seminar series, students will meet for one hour before each seminar to critically discuss papers on the subject of the weekly seminar. Students will take turns introducing the papers and leading discussions on an overview of the research topic, some of the methodologies, results and conclusions. | ||
Complementary Courses (6 credits)
6 credits to be chosen from the following courses:
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| BINF 621 | Bioinformatics: Molecular Biology. | 3 |
Bioinformatics: Molecular Biology. Terms offered: Winter 2026 The main problems related to the analysis of biological sequences (sequence comparison, homology, gene annotation, phylogenetic inference, comparative genomics) and the computational approaches (dynamic programming algorithms, Blast heuristics, hidden Markov models, Bayesian statistics). | ||
| BMDE 652 | Bioinformatics: Proteomics. | 3 |
Bioinformatics: Proteomics. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Overview of high-throughput proteomic technologies commonly employed to study the localization and function of all proteins in an organism, and the bioinformatic approaches to analyze raw data and deposit them in proteome databases. | ||
| BTEC 555 | Structural Bioinformatics. | 3 |
Structural Bioinformatics. Terms offered: Winter 2026 Fundamentals of protein structure and the application of tools for structure determination, how protein structure allows us to understand the complex biological functions, and how knowledge of protein structure can contribute to drug discovery. | ||
| COMP 618 | Bioinformatics: Functional Genomics. | 3 |
Bioinformatics: Functional Genomics. Terms offered: this course is not currently offered. Techniques related to microarrays (normalization, differential expression, class prediction, class discovery), the analysis of non-coding sequence data (identification of transcription factor binding sites), single nucleotide polymorphisms, the inference of biological networks, and integrative Bioinformatics approaches. | ||