Bioinformatics is a multidisciplinary field derived from
computational and biologicalsciences. Its multidisciplinary nature has created
a niche for specialists trained inboth biology and computing, and it has
required distinct teaching cooperation fromexperts in these two different
areas. Consequently, teaching bioinformatics willrequire specialist educators
with in-depth knowledge of the two different components-- biology and computer
science. Because this is quite a daunting task, mostuniversities lack the
necessary specialists and experienced bioinformatics staff. Theymust therefore
resort to the logical route of interdisciplinary and cross-facultyteaching.
However, interfaculty teaching subsequently raises the issue of‘ownership’, and
consequently creates concerns regarding teaching and learningcultures, as it is
obvious that each discipline has an its own inherent culture. In thisarticle,
we examined the curricula and their implementations at two
Malaysianuniversities. Because both universities place their bioinformatics
courses in opposingdepartments, we aimed to study how educators overcome the
interdisciplinarybarrier. In addition, we concisely explain the components that
constitute thebioinformatics field, analyse the unique education criteria that
are required to produceindividuals with bioinformatics training and provide an
overview of globalbioinformatics education to further improve our
implementation of bioinformaticseducation
