About this Specialization

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Join Us in a Top 50 MOOC of All Time! How do we sequence and compare genomes? How do we identify the genetic basis for disease? How do we construct an evolutionary Tree of Life for all species on Earth? When you complete this Specialization, you will learn how to answer many questions in modern biology that have become inseparable from the computational approaches used to solve them. You will also obtain a toolkit of existing software resources built on these computational approaches and that are used by thousands of biologists every day in one of the fastest growing fields in science. Although this Specialization centers on computational topics, you do not need to know how to program in order to complete it. If you are interested in programming, we feature an "Honors Track" (called "hacker track" in previous runs of the course). The Honors Track allows you to implement the bioinformatics algorithms that you will encounter along the way in dozens of automatically graded coding challenges. By completing the Honors Track, you will be a bioinformatics software professional! Learn more about the Bioinformatics Specialization (including why we are wearing these crazy outfits) by watching our introductory video. You can purchase the Specialization's print companion, Bioinformatics Algorithms: An Active Learning Approach, from the textbook website. Our first course, "Finding Hidden Messages in DNA", was named a top-50 MOOC of all time by Class Central!
Shareable Certificate
Earn a Certificate upon completion
100% online courses
Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.
Flexible Schedule
Set and maintain flexible deadlines.
Beginner Level
Approximately 9 months to complete
Suggested pace of 3 hours/week
English
Shareable Certificate
Earn a Certificate upon completion
100% online courses
Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.
Flexible Schedule
Set and maintain flexible deadlines.
Beginner Level
Approximately 9 months to complete
Suggested pace of 3 hours/week
English

How the Specialization Works

Take Courses

A Coursera Specialization is a series of courses that helps you master a skill. To begin, enroll in the Specialization directly, or review its courses and choose the one you'd like to start with. When you subscribe to a course that is part of a Specialization, you’re automatically subscribed to the full Specialization. It’s okay to complete just one course — you can pause your learning or end your subscription at any time. Visit your learner dashboard to track your course enrollments and your progress.

Hands-on Project

Every Specialization includes a hands-on project. You'll need to successfully finish the project(s) to complete the Specialization and earn your certificate. If the Specialization includes a separate course for the hands-on project, you'll need to finish each of the other courses before you can start it.

Earn a Certificate

When you finish every course and complete the hands-on project, you'll earn a Certificate that you can share with prospective employers and your professional network.

There are 7 Courses in this Specialization

Course1

Course 1

Finding Hidden Messages in DNA (Bioinformatics I)

4.3
stars
948 ratings
Course2

Course 2

Genome Sequencing (Bioinformatics II)

4.6
stars
299 ratings
Course3

Course 3

Comparing Genes, Proteins, and Genomes (Bioinformatics III)

4.7
stars
126 ratings
Course4

Course 4

Molecular Evolution (Bioinformatics IV)

4.6
stars
75 ratings

Offered by

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University of California San Diego

Frequently Asked Questions

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