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We have 401 Bioinformatics PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships
Bioinformatics PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships
We have 401 Bioinformatics PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships
A Bioinformatics PhD would provide you with the opportunity to work on an extended, in-detail project through the analysis of large sets of data. Bioinformatics programmes tend to be mostly ‘dry’ work with limited (if any) time in the laboratory conducting experiments. Since the focus is analysis of data, the choice of projects spans many subjects from analysing bacterial evolution, to modelling the spread of disease.
What’s it like to do a PhD in Bioinformatics?
As a Bioinformatics PhD student, you’ll work with the latest software and become proficient with programming in R, Python and MATLAB. You’ll also gain extensive experience with techniques from statistics and data science, all of which will allow you to analyse data effectively.
Some typical research topics in Bioinformatics include:
- Genetic mapping
- Population dynamics
- Epidemiological modelling (modelling disease spread)
- Improving diagnosis through the development of an algorithm
- Using omic technology to study a disease state
- Modelling and predicting evolution
Most Bioinformatics programmes advertised projects with full funding attached. These projects have a pre-determined aim, but you can alter the project along the way to suit your interests.
Compared to other Biology programmes, there is more opportunity of proposing a project, though this remains uncommon. While the majority are advertised projects, some doctoral training programmes offer bioinformatics projects in a given area and leave you to propose the specifics of the project.
In a normal day you’ll be writing programmes to identify new features in the data, analysing results using statistics and data science methods and discussing your project with your supervisor and colleagues.
At the end of the three or four years you’ll complete a thesis of around 60,000 words, which will contribute to your field and you’ll defend it during your viva exam.
Entry requirements
The entry requirements for most Bioinformatics PhD programmes involve a Masters in a related subject including Maths, Biological Science, Computer Science, or Software Engineering, with at least a Merit or Distinction. If English isn’t your first language, you’ll also need to show that you have the right level of language proficiency.
PhD in Bioinformatics funding options
The Research Council responsible for funding Bioinformatics PhDs in the UK is the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). They provide fully-funded studentships including a stipend for living costs, a consumables budget for bench fees and a tuition fee waiver. Students don’t apply directly to the BBSRC, you apply for advertised projects with this funding attached.
It’s uncommon for Bioinformatics PhD students to be ‘self-funded’ due to the additional bench fees. However, if you were planning to fund yourself it might be achievable (depending on your project) through the UK government’s PhD loan and part-time work.
Ethnic differences in response to breaking sitting behaviour: harnessing the proteome for new mechanistic insights.
The Leicester Lifestyle and Health Research Group (LLHRG). Project Highlights: . 1. Application of mass spectrometry to identify the expression of proteins that differ between white Europeans and South Asians in response to breaking prolonged sitting time. Read more
Drug repurposing in HNRNP-related disorders: towards developing novel therapies.
Rare diseases affect over 3.5 million people in the UK and recent medical advances have provided the means to generate potential treatments for several rare diseases that have been studied to-date but have no treatment. Read more
Self-Funded PhD - Developing ex vivo assays for drug development in kidney disease
Kidney disease is a UK health emergency with more than 10% of the population having chronic kidney disease (CKD). The annual cost of managing kidney disease in the UK is £7billion, equating to 3.2% of NHS budgets. Read more
New enzymes for carbon capture
We are looking for a strong candidate for the Global Grand Challenges Studentships to seek out new solutions for the UN Strategic Development Goal on Climate Action (SDG13). Read more
PhD studentship in paediatric brain tumour research – Integrative multi-omic analyses of childhood medulloblastoma for improved personalised therapies
Award Summary. 100% of home tuition fees paid and living expenses £21,000p/a. Significant additional funding to cover research costs. . Read more
Harnessing Machine Learning to Mitigate Adverse Outcomes of Preterm Birth
Background to the project. We are excited to announce a PhD studentship opportunity in maternal health. This project aims to leverage advanced machine learning techniques to develop predictive models and interventions that could significantly reduce the adverse outcomes associated with preterm birth. Read more
QUARTILES DLA: Harnessing blood transcriptomics to explore physiological trade-offs in an Arctic ungulate
This fully funded PhD project is part of the QUARTILES Doctoral Landscape Award, a BBSRC and NERC-funded research and training programme designed to equip… Read more
QUARTILES DLA: Genomics of sea water adaptation in salmonids: from evolutionary insights to aquaculture applications
This fully funded PhD project is part of the QUARTILES Doctoral Landscape Award, a BBSRC and NERC-funded research and training programme designed to equip… Read more
QUARTILES DLA: Microbial thermal tolerance in the context of climate change
This fully funded PhD project is part of the QUARTILES Doctoral Landscape Award, a BBSRC and NERC-funded research and training programme designed to equip… Read more
Unravelling climate pressures on fish life histories in the world’s hottest sea through a novel proteomic and isotopic approach
Fish life histories can change in response to global warming. Climate-driven alterations in life history traits, such as size, growth, and reproduction, could profoundly impact ecological risk assessment and ecosystem-based fisheries management. Read more
Nature’s chemist: how a plant can produce the complex and diverse Daphniphyllum alkaloids
Nature’s chemist. how a plant can produce the complex and diverse alkaloids. Plants are capable of forming complex natural products from simple starting materials. Read more
Making sense of antigenic variation in trypanosomes: a nuclear factory with a switching problem…
Background. Many pathogens can undergo antigenic variation, one of the most sophisticated virulence mechanisms in infection biology. Read more
Elucidating the Mechanism of Hypoxic Reprogramming of the Estrogen Response.
The Estrogen Receptor (ER) plays a central role in breast development, and when it goes wrong, in disease. A key question in tissue development is what causes different cells to show a coordinated response to the molecular messages and how is this regulation maintained. Read more