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Career Choices for Computational Biologists?
wengkius writes "I'm entering grad school this year and will be working towards a higher degree in Computational Biology. While my undergraduate training has been in computer science, I'm looking to apply what I've learned in a new area that has piqued my interest. Now my question is this: apart from the obvious career choices that I have thought of (academic research, pharma corporations, biotech startups), are there any other career options that I have yet to consider? Would be great to hear from Slashdotters who are familiar with the field."
It depends on your program's definition of Computational Biology. Traditionally, Computational Biology and Bioinformatics have referred to the same general type of work, but more recently each has taken on more precise meanings, especially in industry. Computational Biology primarily refers to ab-initio, in-silico modeling of biological systems (conformation, docking, systems biology simulations). Bioinformatics refers to the analysis of biological data, primarily from the various "omics" (genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, etc).
In industry, computational biology is viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism. The promise of in-silico modeling has been just around the corner since the 70s and no system has yet delivered on the promise. If this is what you're doing, stay in academia and keep working on the dream (but, apply to D.E. Shaw Research on the off chance you can get a job there, they're building a supercomputer for this). Or, if you would like a bigger paycheck and more predictable work, switch over to computational chemistry, which is much more accepted and an important component of most drug discovery pipelines.
Bioinformatics, on the other hand, is basis of many product and research groups. The most important skills are the ability to communicate with biologists and experience with genomic databases, genomic search tools, and statistical modeling along with the ability to tie it all together programatically. This often includes developing data mining pipelines and creating nice Web interfaces for the scientists to access them with. Good CS and programming skills can give you a leg up over the people with bioinformatics degrees. If this is what you want to do and you're young/single, biotech startups or bioinformatics startups are a lot of fun. You'll work hard and the company will probably go under, but it's a great way to get deep experience in the field and make connections for your next job.
Right now, the most exciting industrial work is probably around next-gen sequencing platforms. Look at 454/Roche, Applied Biosystems (SOLiD), or Illumina. Lots of really interesting high-performance computing, algorithmic, and scientific challenges.
Good luck!
-Chris
I would look at your question two ways - are you asking for who to work for, or what to work on? There are a lot of things to do, either way.
In terms of who, your choices are plenty. There are a few general options, which vary depending on the field. In general, you have big fish, small (usually new startup) companies, and of course academia. Each has their pluses and minuses, and you'll probably think differently of each of them by the time you're done in graduate school. I'm on my third year of my biochemistry PhD and I know my opinions on each of them change a lot.
As for what field to go in to - obviously you need to find something you want to do, or you'll end up wanting to shoot yourself. That said, I would also recommend looking into the trends - both in funding and in people. Bioinformatics and genomics were both very popular a few years back, and now a lot of people are graduating with degrees in each. There is plenty of work to be done in those fields, but the competition is getting tougher in funding and job hunting. Other 'omices are getting big - proteomics is a great example - and are seeing the same funding / staffing trend that was observed in bioinformatics / genomics a few years back. I was just at a proteomics conference myself a couple weeks ago, and the head-hunting was astounding.
That said, a wise man once pointed out that you'll find the excitement, funding, and staffing for a new technology to be respectively out of phase - at least until the technology du jour is considered "accepted" and "stable". Computational biology and all of its facets is really interesting, but it can be bumpy at times too. So choose your path wisely.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
A program at my previous college would graduate 5-6 bioinformaticians with PhDs a year. The ones who got snapped up were the ones who also had a substantial background in the biology they were working with. Take whatever genetic/bio courses you can fit in along with your bioinformatics work. When choosing a doctoral project, try to find one that involves collaboration between your advisor and professor in the genetics or cell biology department. As some posted above, bioinformaticians can find jobs pretty much anywhere biologists are employed, but the biologists will be important in making any hiring decisions and they want someone who understands the biology in addition to being a wiz at the computational stuff.
The question is for 2-4 years out -- after grad school -- not right now. Computational biology and bioinformatics are unusual undergraduate degrees, so CompSci -> CompBio sounds pretty sane. Since it's such a new field, there's room for experimentation in the graduate programs to prepare for different career styles -- not even the professors will know all the possibilities. Granted, tossing the question out to Slashdotters instead is kind of a Hail Mary...
Getting a job through somebody you know from a previous job happens all the time. Maybe it didn't work for you, but it's quite common. I have seen it over and over again and experienced it personally.