The Center for Bioinformatics Learning Advancement and Systematics Training under the authority of the University of Dhaka was established in October, 2014. The Center was established in view of the importance of 'Bioinformatics' for solving biological problems encountered during pursuit of most of the Life Sciences subjects. The applicability of Bioinformatics for managing biological data was appreciated and the Center was created as a platform for understanding and learning it. Dr. Zeba I. Seraj was  appointed as the Director  of the Center to serve a term of 3 years from January 1, 2015 and further re-appointed as the Director of the Center from January 1, 2018 for last 3 years. The center is managed by an Administrative Council of 13 members, chaired by the Honorable Vice Chancellor of the University of Dhaka. Positional members are the Dean of Biological Sciences and the Chair of the BMB Department. In addition, there are 5 more members from BMBDU, one from GEBDU, one from ISRT, DU, one from IIT, DU and one from industry.

Moreover there is also an Advisory Board, where there are general members and donor members. Names will be announced soon.

Members of the Administrative Council for cBLAST

Chairperson: Hon. Vice Chancellor, Dr. Md. Akhtaruzzaman

Director: Dr. Zeba I. Seraj, Member Secretary

Member: Dean Biological Sciences Faculty, Dr. Imdadul Hoque

Member: Chair, BMBDU, Dr. Yearul Kabir

From BMBDU:

Dr. Yearul Kabir

Dr. A H M Nurun Nabi

Dr. A K M Mahbub Hasan

Dr. Rakibul Islam

Dr. Mahmud Hossain

Other relevant Departments:

Dr. ABM Md. Khademul Islam, GEBDU

Dr. Mahbub Latif, ISRT, DU

Dr. Mohammad Shoyaib, IIT, DU

Dr. Iqbal Hassan Khan, Incepta Pharma

The code of life is embedded in the DNA sequences of any living organism, be it a life-threatening bacteria, a waste-utilizing friendly bacteria, our favorite food rice, a mangrove plant growing in the saline waters of the coast, a migratory bird or we humans ourselves. Therefore, to combat diseases caused by bacteria and to address the effects of disease on humans we need to be able to analyze DNA sequences. Similarly we need to understand the DNA sequence of any crop to make it more durable to rising sea levels, or to drought or mineral deficiency/toxicity. Again we could enrich ourselves by recycling our wastes to produce fertilizers and fuel by harnessing information from the DNA sequence of waste-utilizing bacteria. Bioinformatics teaches us how to make sense of the huge data available in terms of DNA, RNA and protein sequences.

With advances in technology, DNA sequences of many organisms started becoming available from the beginning of the 21st century. Currently DNA sequences of hundreds of organisms are available with more than 126 billion bases of data. Therefore, the biggest challenge facing scientists today is to make sense of this wealth of data. Sequence generation, and its subsequent storage, interpretation and analysis are dependent on the computer-which has given rise to the Science of Bioinformatics. DNA sequences give rise to RNA transcripts, which in turn produce proteins and proteins produce metabolic products. Along with the explosion of DNA sequence information therefore, there are tons of transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic data also needing computer management.

Understanding Bioinformatics holds the key to solving many of the problems that Bangladesh faces today as explained above. Moreover, it also offers the prospects of many freelance jobs where trained bioinformaticians will analyze and make sense of other people’s data. In addition, one can perform research on protein structure and function by analyses of the huge amount of publicly available data. There is a great deal of interest and financial reward in being able to biologically identify and validate drug targets using computational tools. These highly specific drugs promise to have fewer side effects than many in use today. In short, Bioinformatics is not only important for academicians, it is also important for solutions to practical problems and be useful for the industries in Bangladesh.

Therefore, it is essential that we gather knowledge in Bioinformatics, or the Science which allows us to handle and analyze high throughput data, such as sequencing data, proteomic data as well as metabolomic data. Bioinformatics is however, a multidisciplinary Science requiring Knowledge of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Genetics, Microbiology, Statistics and most importantly Computer Science or programming skills. Available expertise is scattered in various departments at the University of Dhaka, 1-2 other public universities as well as 1-2 private Universities or Institutions. Moreover, we have some young graduates who have developed commendable skills in Bioinformatics.

We at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology as well as Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, with the help of other Faculty members, Computer Scientists and Statisticians have designed modular online course in Bioinformatics. The aim of the course would be to develop expert personnel with practical knowledge in biological data analysis using computational tools, enabling them to deal with biological problems. . Each module will be of 12-weeks duration, with video lectures of a total duration of up to 2 hours per week. Each week will end with an assignment or quiz. The student can log-in/download as long as he/she needs in order to assimilate the lectures, which will be a series of screen prints with complete instructions (voice) on how to understand and tackle problems. Thereafter he/she can log in for the assignment/quiz. The assignment/quiz is mandatory and the student will not be able to move forward to the following week unless the HW is done. Certification after completion of the module will only be in the form of hours and assignments completed. The final exam will be via a face-face workshop.

There will be a course fee of Tk. 5000 per module for students and Tk. 8000 for Academicians and Researchers and Tk. 10,000 for professionals from Industries. Eligible students: must be registered as B.Sc. University/College students and must submit their ID when registering. Students are required to bring their original IDs and National ID and valid email profile before they are scheduled to receive their certificate after the end-of-course workshop. Academicians and Professionals need to send their National IDs and email address and profile during registration. For details, please see enrollment requirement page