SYNOPSIS  

Integrated Bioinformatics Program (IBP) at Drexel University focuses on a system approach to bioinformatics in which information at the gene, protein, cell, tissue, organ, and system level is integrated and interpreted for early detection, accurate diagnosis, and effective treatment of complex diseases such as cancer. The program offers bioinformatics education at both undergraduate and graduate levels and provides two training programs: “The Philadelphia Summer Institute for Bioinformatics” for undergraduate college students and “The Philadelphia Greenhouse Bioinformatics Training Program” for professionals. The overall objective of the educational program is to train students in system approaches for the development of useful computational models of living systems and novel enabling informatics technologies in life sciences. A broad, educational impact of the Integrated Bioinformatics Program is to strengthen the system biology and bioinformatics background of biomedical engineering and computer science students; as such, students are poised to shape of the future of bioinformatics for years to come. The program facilitates bioinformatics research in a wide range of topics, including the molecular characterization of tissue heterogeneity, molecular pathways and cellular networks, and the informatics of cultured cells. Tissue heterogeneity is an important property of cancer. Medical, histological, and molecular information must be integrated to address the issues of early detection, accurate diagnosis, and individualized treatment.  Integration of information is also the key ingredient in the future advances in the treatment of infectious diseases.