The mission of the UT Biomedical Informatics Lab (BMIL) is to design cost-effective, computational decision aids. The BMIL develops decision support systems for clinical decision making and scientific discovery using artificial intelligence and signal processing technologies. The BMIL's research portfolio also includes research in biometrics. Please direct inquiries regarding the Biomedical Informatics Lab to Mia K. Markey. Dr. Markey's CV is available here.
What is Biomedical Informatics?
In recent years, biomedical informatics has come into usage as a name encompassing the converging, related fields of medical informatics and bioinformatics. The term medical informatics has been used to refer to the study of the optimal storage and use of medical data for clinical decision making and related tasks, while bioinformatics has been used to refer to the study of the optimal storage and use of biological data in biomedical research. ("Clinical informatics" is now more commmonly used than "medical informatics"). The underlying principles and computational tools are similar whether the data derive from a clinical or basic research source. Moreover, as techniques such as DNA microarray analysis enter medical practice, the distinction between bioinformatics and medical informatics will become increasingly arbitrary. The current research portfolio of the Biomedical Informatics Lab emphasizes the role of biomedical informatics in clinical decision making, though we also have projects in informatics for scientific discovery and in biometrics.
What is Biomedical Engineering?
Biomedical Engineering is the use of science, mathematics, and technology to design solutions to problems in biology and medicine than impact people's lives. Computational biomedical engineering, including biomedical informatics, is concerned with solutions that will be implemented in software or with the computational modeling and analysis of designs that will be implemented using any medium. While computers are used throughout all areas of biomedical engineering, computational biomedical engineering is concerned with the development of novel computational methods or applications.
Education
We are committed to increasing the diversity of the engineering workforce. Students participate in research in the UT Biomedical Informatics Lab at the high school through graduate levels.
There are several programs at UT Austin to support undergraduate student research in engineering, such as in the BMIL. Prospective undergraduates should apply to the BMIL using this form. Please note that undergraduate research positions are available only on a volunteer or course-credit basis.
Prospective graduate students should refer to the BME admissions procedures. Additional information on BME admissions procedures can be obtained from the BME Graduate Coordinator. Please note that UT BME is an inter-institutional department combining the strengths of The University of Texas at Austin, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. While the UT BMIL is based at the Austin campus, our lab has extensive collaborations with Houston-based faculty and prospective students should expect that travel to Houston would be required at least once or twice per month.
Graduate students may also join the BMIL through the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Track of the graduate program in Cell and Molecular Biology; please contact the CMB Graduate Director for more information.
Questions specifically regarding graduate work in the BMIL can be directed to Prof. Markey. However, please understand that we cannot predict your chances of admission; you have to submit a full application in order to be fairly evaluated. Also, it is not possible for me to predict in advance how many students I will be recruiting for a given semester or whether someone is a good fit for my group without a full application. However, if you submit you materials as described above I will review them personally and provide my feedback to the admissions committee.
Contact
Please direct inquiries regarding the Biomedical Informatics Lab to Mia K. Markey. Dr. Markey's CV is available here.