Northeastern University is committed to delivering cutting-edge programs that foster interdisciplinary thinking, research, and the pursuit of innovation-driven discoveries that have an impact on lives. That commitment and vision are at the very core of the MS in Bioinformatics. The program’s cross-disciplinary training prepares graduates to succeed in multiple roles in this new and growing field.
Combining challenging academics in biology, computer science, and information technology with real-world experience, the program helps students integrate the knowledge, skills, experience, and confidence they need to achieve their goals and make a difference in our world. The Master of Science in Bioinformatics is structured to provide students with the skills and knowledge to develop, evaluate, and deploy bioinformatics and computational biology applications. The program is designed to prepare students for employment in the biotechnology sector, where the need for knowledgeable life scientists with quantitative and computational skills has exploded in the past decade.
Concentrations:
- Bioinformatics and Chemoinformatics: Bioinformatics and Chemoinformatics concentration helps prepare students to address the informatics needs for both large molecule biological products as well as small molecule pharmaceutical products.
- Bioinformatics Enterprise: The Bioinformatics Enterprise concentration integrates business and management skills with the science of bioinformatics. Students learn the fundamental concepts of leadership, entrepreneurship and innovation, financial decision making, and marketing. They gain teamwork, management, and business development skills in the process and graduate prepared to become scientist-managers.
- Biotechnology: The Biotechnology concentration provides students without a biotechnology background to obtain a strong foundation in basic biotechnology concepts and skills. Individuals, particularly those who are working in fields other than biotechnology, will acquire competency and learn new practical skills enabling them to increase productivity and allow for transitions into more biotechnology-related fields.
- Data Analytics: The Data Analytics concentration is designed to provide students with foundational knowledge in data science—including data management, machine learning, data mining, statistics, and visualizing and communicating data—that can be applied to data-driven decision making in any discipline.
- Health Informatics: The Health Informatics concentration will help prepare students to successfully address the combined clinical, technical, and business needs of health-related professionals.
- Medical Health Informatics: The Medical Health Informatics concentration will help prepare students to successfully address the combined medical needs from a patient's health perspective, technical, and business needs.
- Omics: The omics concentration will prepare students to analyze large data sets related to genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics and new-omics fields as they evolve.
- Coursework Option: Students are not required to declare a concentration. With the elective option, students select 12 credits of electives in place of concentration-specific courses.
More Details
Unique Features
- This program meets F-1 international student status requirements
- Courses run in the evening to accommodate working professionals
- Students gain up to six months of work experience through co-op positions
- With only one additional class, a student can also earn a graduate certificate in data science
- 94% employment after graduation in industry or research in last three years
Program Objectives
- Attain core knowledge in bioinformatics programming
- Integrate knowledge from biological, computational, and mathematical disciplines
- Gain professional work experience via co-op

