Careers In BioinformaticsScope, Skills and Jobs

In Past

No field of bioinformatics in 1970 to 80’s.

Areas of biology that required substantial use of the computer.

So

Why Bioinformatics emerged so quickly?

Crystallographers had to write code to transform x-ray diffraction data into molecular structure predictions; evolutionary biologists had to create databases to store protein and DNA sequences produced by the introduction of sequencing technology. Arguably this is where the field of bioinformatics began, and is why structure and sequence analysis used to be the majority.

Two types of students in this field now

1. Computer scientists who enjoyed biology at school and are interested in tackling biological problems, and

2. Biologists who are handy with computers and fancy taking this from a hobby to a profession.

Scope for Bioinformatics

• There is still a wealth of biological information out there to be deciphered, and there also be an increase in the number of bioinformatics research programs.

• Also the bioinformatics market despite everything is still growing worldwide and is expected to surpass the 50 billion dollar mark soon.

Major Employers of Bioinformaticians

The pharmaceutical industry tends to be the major employer of bioinformaticians, although biotech companies, especially those involved personal care products, industrial organisms and agriculture have seen bioinformatics play a more important role in their industry.

Education For good Job

• According to job listings on CareerBuilder and Monster.Com, many bioinformatics positions require a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree, although some may require a master’s or a bachelor’s degree.

Career Opportunities

• Below are brief descriptions of some of the areas within bioinformatics that opportunities are arising are:

• Sequence Assembly: This involves the use of sophisticated computer-based methods to assemble the thousands of fragments that make up the genome of an organism.

• Genomic Sequence Analysis: This involves mapping out the regions of a genome that code for a particular protein’s production. It also involves mapping out areas of the gene that is clipped out or discarded. All these are done using sophisticated software programs and results are then compared with databases of already mapped out genes.

• Functional genomics: This is the process of determining the functions of genes and determining whether they would suitable for drug discovery.

• Genotyping: This involves the discovery of disease causing genes and using that knowledge to identifying individuals who are susceptible to such diseases.

• Proteomics: An offshoot of genomic studies, this is the study of the portion of a genome that is expressed in particular cells. This usually involves the use of micro-arrays (a cutting edge technology that allows the expression of level of thousands of genes in a cell sample to be quickly determined) and the results are entered in a database. This area is especially useful for drug and/or gene therapy.

• Pharmacogenomics: Here databases of single nucleotide polymorphisms (gene mutations that cause particular disease states or increase/decreased sensitivity to drugs) have an important role to play in future drug development efforts and in the design of clinical trials.

• Database Administration: This usually involves the design and maintenance of huge databases of genomic sequence and biochemical information. These databases need to be constantly updated. There is also the involvement in the development of intelligent search algorithms to search through the database and retrieve relevant information.

Skills Needed

• Good communications skills. As a bioinformatics specialist, you will be communicating complex data to people with a variety of backgrounds. It’s very much like being a translator. You have to know the languages involved, and you have to be an expert communicator in order to help people understand each other.

• Good teamwork skills. Bioinformatics is not for lone rangers. Researchers can sometimes work independently, but bioinformatics is about information and communication. You will be working on a team with people who have diverse backgrounds and differing areas of expertise. Good teamwork skills are essential.

• The ability to multitask. You will need to be able to handle several complex tasks at a time. This can be a high pressure job with deadlines that have to be met. The ability to multitask will help you manage your job with less stress.

• Flexibility. You may be moved from one project to another as your skills are needed. You may have to put aside a project you are working on to help someone with an urgent request. You may need to stop what you are doing and explain a computer model to a scientist. Flexibility is a key skill to have in bioinformatics.

• A working knowledge of biology and its applications. You don’t have to be an expert in biology, but you do need to know what kind of information you are working with. It is especially useful to know about molecular biology and genetics and to understand recent genetic research.

• Proficiency in computer languages. You need to know basic programming languages like C++, Python, R, Java, PHP, and MySQL. Most bioinformatics programming utilizes PERL.

• Skill in data mining. Being able to extract data from multiple resources is invaluable.

• Good data visualization skills. You’ll need to be able to take complex data and interpret it into models and other ways that make it understandable for biologists and other team members.

• Experience with bioinformatics tools, such as Blast, BLAT, molecular modeling, drug design, sequence analysis algorithms and clustering tools.

• Experience in using bioinformatics resources, such as the UCSC genome browser and Entrez. You’ll need to be familiar with the National Center for Bioinformatics (NCBI) and the database and analysis tools available on their website.

Foreign Jobs WebSites

• ISCB: Job Board

• Bioinformatics.Org

• BioPlanet Jobs

• Science Careers.

• TheScienceJobs

• Sciencejobs

• helpBIOTECH

• BioSpace

• Bioinformatics.Fr

• Bioinformatics.ca

The Top Bioinformatics Companies

• A list of few top bioinformatics companies are listed below:

• Abbott, accelrys, adolor, Agilent, AstraZeneca, AMGEN, Ardais, AVAKI, Aventies, Base4, Bayer, BioDiscovery, Biosentients, Boehringer Ingelheim, CIPHERGEN, Computercraft, CuraGen, Dupont Merck, Exelixis, GENAISSANCE, GeneData, GenenCor, Genentech, GenSet, genzyme, Geospiza, immunex, Incyte, Ils, Incellico, LEXICON, Lilly, MERCK, Monsanto, neomorphic, Novartis, Novo A/S, Ocimum, Paracel, Partek, pfizer, Roche, Schering-Plough, Strand Genomics, Synomics, 3rd Millennium, Virtual Genetics, Wyeth, Schrodinger.

Jobs in Pakistan

• Mostly jobs as research assistant in many universities in Pakistan.

• Including Quaid e Azam University ISB, CAMB LHR, NUST ISB, UAF FSD and many others universities are also offering good jobs with healthy salary.

• Future of Bioinformatics is very hopeful in Pakistan.

Questions??