The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics is an internationally recognized non-profit organization dedicated to biological and biomedical data science. It is present in the main academic institutions of Switzerland and leads numerous national and international projects with a major impact on life science research and health.
SIB’s scientists are passionate about creating knowledge and converting complex questions into solutions in many fields, from biodiversity and evolution to medicine. They provide essential databases and software platforms, data management, software engineering and biocuration services, IT infrastructure as well as computational biology know-how and training. The institute delivers this expertise to academic groups and clinicians as well as to private companies.
SIB federates the Swiss bioinformatics community of some 800 scientists, encouraging collaboration and knowledge sharing. It also cooperates with national and international institutions on research infrastructure matters.
The institute contributes to keeping Switzerland at the forefront of innovation by fostering progress in biological research and enhancing health.
Data scientists for life
Discover SIB in 5 benefits for society
Vision
The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics fosters excellence in data science to support progress in biological research and health.
Mission
SIB leads and coordinates the field of bioinformatics in Switzerland. Our data science experts join forces to advance biological and medical research and enhance health. SIB:
- provides the national and international life science community with a state-of-the-art bioinformatics infrastructure, including resources, expertise and services,
- federates world-class researchers and delivers training in bioinformatics.
Commitment
To achieve its mission, SIB is committed to
- Creating, maintaining and disseminating worldwide a large portfolio of reliable, sustainable and top-quality core bioinformatics services and resources, such as databases, software and competence centres
- Serving the national life science community by offering easily accessible world-class competencies, expertise and support in bioinformatics
- Supporting hospitals and clinicians with know-how, resources and infrastructure dedicated to personalized health
- Bringing together bioinformatics research groups from Swiss universities and research institutes
- Fostering collaboration and innovation at the highest level of scientific excellence
- Providing life scientists, clinicians, and PhD students with a large portfolio of courses and workshops
- Fostering exchanges among bioinformatics and computational biology PhD students and training them in the most up-to-date methods necessary for their doctoral research
- Representing and promoting bioinformatics locally and internationally
About bioinformatics
Bioinformatics encompasses:
- Databases for storing, retrieving and organizing information to maximize the value of biological data;
- Software tools for modelling, visualizing, interpreting and comparing biological data;
- Analysis of complex biological datasets or systems using novel statistical approaches or machine learning techniques;
- Research in a wide variety of biological fields and leading to applications in diverse areas, from agriculture to precision medicine;
- Computing and storage infrastructure to process and safeguard large amounts of data.
Bioinformatics is thus a multidisciplinary field bringing together biologists, computer scientists and mathematicians, as well as statisticians and physicists.