Degree Pathway for the Bachelor of Science in Biology - Bioinformatics Option - 2023

For students who entered fall 2023 and beyond.

Freshman Year

Sophomore Year

Junior Year

Senior Year

¹The Arts and Humanities (AH) and Social Sciences (SS) perspectives are subsets of the Breadth of Knowledge (BOK) requirements in the Core Curriculum. No more than two BOK courses can be taken with the same four-letter prefix.

The Core Curriculum also includes seven Essential Learning Outcomes (ELOs). The Diversity and Cultural Awareness (DCA) ELO is met outside the major requirements. See the DCA course listing for a full list of classes that fulfill these requirements.

PHIL.4010 Bioethics and Genetics Research is required. It is an AH course and satisfies the SRE requirements.

The Class Search tool can be used to identify AH and SS courses that simultaneously satisfy the DCA or SRE requirement.

The Core Curriculum courses may be taken in any sequence. Refer to the Core Curriculum policy for further details. You should meet with your college-based professional advisor and/or faculty advisor to determine how best to satisfy the Core Curriculum requirements.

²PHIL.4010 Bioethics and Genetics Research is required, and it is an AH course and satisfies the SRE requirement.

³Students are required to take one course from the “Organisms, Evolution, and Environment” (OEE) category and one from the “Cell and Tissue” (CT) category to ensure they have adequate Breadth of Knowledge at the sophomore level. Students should consult with their advisor regarding course selection to satisfy the OEE and CT elective requirements. BIOL.2055 Introduction to Bioinformatics is recommended as the OEE elective as it is a pre-requisite for upper-level Bioinformatics electives.

• Organisms, Evolution, and Environment Electives
  • BIOL.2400 Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation
  • BIOL.2055 Introduction to Bioinformatics
• Cell and Tissue Electives
  • BIOL.2200 Principles of Cellular Biology
  • BIOL.2520 Physiology

⁴Students must complete six (6) upper-level electives – three (3) of which must be lab courses. These courses are selected from two different categories:

• Bioinformatics Electives: Four (4) of the six upper-level electives must be selected from an approved list of bioinformatics courses. Two (2) of these bioinformatics electives must be lab courses.
  • BIOL.4050L Bioinformatics
  • BIOL.4062 / BIOL.4062L Bioinformatic Tools in Sequence Analysis / Bioinformatic Tools in Sequence Analysis Lab
  • BIOL.4072 / BIOL.4072L Data Science for Biologists / Data Science for Biologists Lab
  • BIOL.4300 Cancer Genomics
  • BIOL.4320 / BIOL.4340L Genomics / Genomics Laboratory
  • BIOL.4385 Epigenetics and Chromatin
  • BIOL.4892 / BIOL.4894L Crystallography and Structural Bioinformatics / Crystallography and Structural Bioinformatics Lab
• General Biology Electives: The remaining two (2) upper-level electives can be selected from all upper-level BIOL courses, and one (1) of these must have a lab component.

⁵Free Electives can be satisfied by any UML course xxxx.1010 or above, with the following exceptions:

• Courses with the MATH prefix must be above the level of Calculus I.
• Courses with the LIFE prefix may NOT be used.
• Additional Biology courses can be used, but NO MORE than 60 credits of BIOL coursework may be applied towards the minimum 120 credits requirement to graduate.

NOTE: Labs can be taken as a 3 credit lecture with a 1 credit lab or both combined into a 4 credit class. In addition, some lab courses have a 3 credit lecture with 2 credit lab for a total of 5 credits. Additionally, two labs can be replaced by taking the 4 credit senior research courses BIOL.4110L and BIOL.4120L

⁶Free Elective can vary from 0-3 credits depending on the number of 1 credit or 2 credit labs completed. For example:

• If a student completes no more than three 1 credit labs (whether the lab is a separate course or combined with the lecture into a 4 credit class), then Free Elective will be a 3 credit class.
• However, if three 2 credit labs are completed, then the student will have earned 3 additional credits which can be used to satisfy Free Elective.
• Other combinations can result in Free Elective being 1 or 2 credits.

⁷Courses may be taken in either semester of the year listed.

Current UMass Lowell students should use their Advisement Report ins SIS. If you need assistance, please contact your advisor.

Restriction on off-campus study:

Be advised that any course taken at another institution must be formally approved prior to enrollment. See the catalog policy for details.