BIOINFORMATICS
AND SYSTEMS BIOLOGY

Excellent master’s degree covering all aspects of bioinformatics. Quite intense but thanks to it we come away with all the skills and knowledge we need. Very practical, hands-on program.

The program impressed me by the density of useful and up-to-date information that was taught by practitioners. During the course we have gained comprehensive knowledge which we can already use in practice. Each semester we had collaborations with scientific consultants and had an ability to try ourselves in one or several bioinformatics projects and choose in which of them we want to be involved further. Master project was also a part of huge work which was carried out in the research lab. Here I’ve found a collaboration that I will continue after graduation and that will help me to dive into the scientific community. Especially considering the fact that I am from the IT industry without any special biology or math background. I am very grateful for quality education and attentive attitude to students! Special thanks to Aleksey, Lada and all the teachers!

I completed my bachelor’s degree in molecular biology at the University of Novi Sad (Serbia), in my hometown. After graduating I decided that I wanted to expand my skillset and learn more about programming and data science. This program would combine these skills with my previous education perfectly. The bioinformatics and systems biology Master’s program at ITMO University seemed the best choice, since it offers a comprehensive two year education in the field of bioinformatics, focusing firstly on grasping basics in programming and elementary bioinformatics data analysis before applying these basics to real-world data analyses in the second year, all while being set in an international environment in Russia’s cultural capital, St. Petersburg. What I’ve enjoyed most while studying at ITMO is the emphasis on practical knowledge and hands-on teaching methods, which differs greatly from my previous education in Serbia, where the emphasis is placed mostly on theoretical knowledge.
The teaching staff are very professional and dedicated. I was impressed by how important students' feedback was to directors of the program, not hesitating to immediately resolve any issues that would rarely arise. For instance, they did not hesitate to hire mentors for students, including myself, who felt a bit overwhelmed by math-heavy subjects in the first semester. Thanks to these mentors we managed to pass these subjects with good grades and learn a lot more than we could just with regular classes. Apart from the study process, my favorite perks of ITMO is its unique buddy system! Buddies are students of ITMO who volunteer to help international students get through their first weeks in Russia, helping with paperwork, health check-ups, and other hurdles before your student life begins. I would definitely recommend ITMO University to anyone who wants to study at one of the best universities for information technologies in Russia while experiencing student life in its most beautiful city, St. Petersburg!

ITMO is an amazing place, and personally I think our program is one of the best. If you want to pursue a career as a Bioinformatician, and get to learn a lot of cool skills and work in applied research fields, it would be a tremendous help on your path. The program is not an easy one, but it is highly rewarding. We were taught by some of the best professors coming from institutes such as Broad, Max Planck and studied core modules in systems biology, sequencing data analyses, epigenomics, metagenomics, phylogenetics, proteomics and so on. To be honest, I only had a rudimentary idea about these fields and a little experience with sequence data analyses and programming. Two years forward, I feel like a Bioinformatician. I have learnt crucial skills here, not just as a researcher, but as a pupil of science. I feel extremely grateful to all the professors for making it an incredible journey. The student group is also amazing, I have made life long friendships here. Saint Petersburg is a beautiful city. It’s vibrant and lively. And people here are friendly and helpful. Compared to other European cities, it is not very expensive, so I guess that’s definitely a plus. I am sure that you will like both the program and the city. But of course the program more!