Director’s Message
The Bioinformatics Program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock is composed of several interrelated components.
- The UALR/UAMS Joint Graduate Program in Bioinformatics offers both Masters and Doctorate degrees in Bioinformatics. This program was approved by the Board of Directors of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE) on October 22, 2004. The Joint Graduate Program in Bioinformatics is a collaboration between the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). This program draws on faculty expertise in the life sciences, computer/information sciences, computational biology, and bioinformatics from both campuses.
- The UALR undergraduate minor in Bioinformatics was approved late in the Spring 2004 semester and it is jointly offered by the Biology and Information Science Departments. This minor is especially suited for students majoring in biology, computer science or information science interested in pursuing graduate studies and careers in the biomedical informatics arena. In addition, plans are currently underway to create a bachelor of science degree in Bioinformatics to be launched in fall of 2014.
- The MidSouth Bioinformatics Center offers access to both computational and consulting resources in bioinformatics. The Center’s mission is to help students and faculty across the midsouth region get the training and access they need to use the tools and techniques of bioinformatics to gain valuable insight from their biological, medical, behavioral, and health data. The MidSouth Bioinformatics Center is located in EIT 326 on the third floor of the EIT building at UALR.
- UALR is a partner in The Arkansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (Arkansas INBRE). The Arkansas INBRE builds on the successful Arkansas Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (BRIN) program that was established in 2001 under a grant from the NIH. The Arkansas BRIN established a statewide network that links Arkansas institutions of higher education to establish a statewide infrastructure in support of a growing effort to build a biomedical research capacity in Arkansas. The Arkansas INBRE provides critical support to both our joint UALR/UAMS joint graduate program in Bioinformatics and to our MidSouth Center in Bioinformatics.
