UIC TO DEVELOP BIOINFORMATICS TRAINING PROGRAM

The UIC bioinformatics program in the Department of Bioengineering has been selected by the Chicago Technology Park (CTP) to be the academic partner in developing a novel bioinformatics training program. The $1.4 million in funding from CTP will be used to develop four courses and internships with the goal of preparing information technology (IT) workers for a career change into bioinformatics. CTP will also pay 54% of the tuition to UIC for the IT workers who are admitted to this certificate program. The UIC Engineering School and the Department of Bioengineering will contribute the other 46%, thus providing the students with free re-training in preparation for the career change.

This PI of the program is Hui Lu, Assistant Professor of Bioinformatics in the Department of Bioengineering. Participating teaching faculty from the Department of Bioengineering include Yang Dai, Jie Liang, and Richard Magin. Other UIC bioinformatics faculty members will also contribute at various stages of this program.