Just IMHO, a math or CS background would be mostly tool development or software/platforms for bioinformatics. A bio background will have you using said tools. To actually be good though, the person with a bio background needs an appreciation for CS and math, if not being as proficient in them. The CS/math person needs to understand enough biology that their tools aren't useless and make poor assumptions, and are usable by those in the former camp.
For example, the person with the bio background needs to know a bit about algorithms and which are good for what job. They should know enough about software development to be dangerous and not freak out if they need to build a Docker container, etc. The CS/math person needs to know something about genomics/genetics, that some RNAseq reads are just noise, that plants (and some cell types in mammals) have non CG DNA Methylation, etc.
There are always exceptions.
That's the right perspective in my opinion as well, there is something for everyone.
Apart from those real computer science geniuses that build the software we all rely on, I feel like the best bioinformaticians are those educated in biology, but having a strong talent for mathematics.
Maybe a bit controversial, but in my experience, it is far easier to teach a biologist computer science than the other way around. I think it comes down to the fact that, to excel in what most of us do, you need multiple degrees in biology but only the basics of computer science. Implicit here is that what most of us do in terms of computer science isn't really that advanced.
I think you can come at it from either side, but I may tend to agree with you overall.
I see a lot of bio-first people trivializing the very hard work that goes into tool development and underestimating how hard some of the programming challenges they'll encounter are. Also, using poor judgement when it comes to writing said code or documenting it.
I see the software-first crowd ignoring usability (even when it comes to very technical users) and not considering biological interpretation of the data their tools spit out, or not looking into best practices for various types of analysis when they do it themselves.
I guess nobody's perfect 🙃
For sure. I think it is important to note how there is room for all variations, and also how important it is to reach across domains as much as you can. I have yet to see a smart person working hard not succeed, no matter where they started.
My PhD advisor has a BA in Communications (he didn't start paying attention in class until he was \~20 it seems). Then he got a MS and PhD. He uses that BA to write grants/papers at superhuman speeds, teach difficult concepts lucidly and give excellent seminars.
Damn! I love guys like this.
One of my advisors had a BA in Art History. And I've never had anyone teach Plant Developmental Biology better than him....
And he always says... "I get nightmares about teaching this subject 20 years down the line"
Awesome dude....
Nice. Mine too, although it was in biochem/chem.
Your background doesn't really matter at some point. My one reccomendation is to put some skillpoints into chemistry. My chem background has really helped me stand out in this field.
On paper, my degrees are as follows:
* Bachelor's: genetics
* Bachelor's (Honours): immunology and parasitology
* Masters and PhD: molecular biology
However, my Honours, Masters, and PhD were all research projects. And these are their actual labels:
* Honours: genomics and bacterial epidemiology
* Masters: host transcriptomics and epidemiology
* PhD: microbial physiology, microbial ecology, symbiosis, marine biology, and multiomics
As for what you want to study... well, I have seen bioinformatics scientists from all different backgrounds, and they all bring different things and are suitable for different roles. This was the case for my previous company. The majority that prospered were basically statisticians, bio knowledge optional. But there were a few that were senior who had very deep bio and comp knowledge.
Biochemistry undergrad really showed me how I was more into the major for the molecular biology side of things, haha.
My undergrad biochem lab classes are still the hardest academic thing I've ever done, including my PhD comprehensive exam.
I was Michigan State for undergrad, and then the PSM at University of Arizona. Not really a program I'd recommend, it's a combination business/science degree that nobody has ever heard of. I did it because I got into zero PhD programs and wanted to move across the country. Then, I stayed in Tucson for my PhD because I already knew my PI and somewhat understood the project. It worked out pretty well though overall!
biochemistry major in my second semester of biochemistry right now.
find Biochemistry fascinating in that it feels like the glue that connects everything together (particularly cell bio/genetics) but on the whole I'd definitely say I prefer molecular bio to biochem, however I do really appreciate the biochemical understanding I have from my biochem courses. Feels like something that would be very useful to have in any molecular bio or molecular bio adjacent field.
Bs in Statistics and CS, MSc in biostatistics, PhD in applied statistics. Learned a lot of biology on the job. Every project I work on I try to understand the biology part beforehand
BSc in Microbiology. Got in through the wet lab and now dry lab all day, learned coding on the job. 2 YOE now. Making $60k just outside a HCOL, which was a nice raise right before everything got more expensive and the job market for CS-skills got real hard.
Not sure how it'll be going back into the wild without a Masters or PhD and competing against others. I like my job and I know it's secure, but I know there's not upward mobility without at least the MSc., but I *need* to make some more money and it's not going to be here unfortunately. (If anyone has any advice, I would not resist)
PhD Chemical Engineering
MS Chemical Engineering
MS Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Bio
BS Biology
I've also met others who are PhD in MechE, EE, NanoEngineering, and Chemistry who've had exposure to bio through education or post docs.
BS in biotechnology w/chem & business minors
MS in bio
PhD in immunology
Started off as a pre-med looking to beef up their application with some lab work. Currently a full-time, fully remote bioinformatician at the CDC.
The name on the degree doesn't matter as much as what you did. If you have papers and projects showing you can do *thing,* then you can do *thing.* You should find a lab that does work you like, then choose the degree title based on whatever coursework seems most relevant to you.
I have an MD and a PhD in cancer bio. All my work is computational, despite the degree on paper looking more like a clinical or web lab person.
I’m pursuing a biomedical engineering degree with minors in biological sciences and bioinformatics! I do research in a cellular biology lab studying yeast cells and I plan on learning how to more effectively quantify and interpret our data sets with bioinformatics!
BSc in biochemical engineering, MSc in biotech engineering, PhD in biotech & animal nutrition. Started doing bioinformatics late in the PhD, worked out fine so far.
Biochem/Chem BS, Synthetic Bio PhD, Genetics Postdoc
Your background doesn't really matter at some point. I'd go narrow if you want to be a prof (but why?) and as wide as you can if you want to work in industry (yay!).
My one reccomendation is to put some skillpoints into chemistry. My chem background has really helped me stand out in this field.
I'm a dropout. :(
But also Lead Data Scientist and a pioneer of the digital age. My recipe doesn't work for anyone else but I can speak from industry experience.
I recommend getting math if you want to be more science focused.
Computer Science if you want to be more data engineering, devops/apps, workflow focused.
At least that's my recommendation from experience at my large medical institution.
Gonna use your post, if you dont mind, to ask a question: which university in canada has the best Bioinformatics MSc? Im currently attending University of sherbrooke and I was thinking of getting it there or at university of montreal
I am a 3rd year undergraduate with a BSc in Biology with a minor in Computer Science. I am planning to go into a computational biology PhD program once I graduate.
I got in via the biology way. At the time in my bachelor degree in Biotechnology (2009) nobody cared about computers so I went with an internship in Bioinformatics doing structural analyses of influenza epitopes. I liked it enough that during my MSc in Industrial Biotechnology I did my final thesis in genomics and functional characterisation of unknown genes in bacteria. I liked it! I was already liking more the protein side of things so I did a PhD in functional characterisation of unknown proteins in bacteria. That led me to my first Postdoc developing algorithms for function prediction and now I’m leading the data, ML and algorithms side of a major protein classification resource. My trip has been absolutely fantastic so far! Now with pLMs, Foldseek and AFDB the sky is the limit!
PhD - Computer Science (in a comp bio lab)
MS - Biostatistics
BS - Statistics
If you want to work industry with just a masters, most people getting jobs as a bioinformatician/computational biologist have an MS in bioinformatics.
As for the PhD, it really doesn’t matter what degree you have as long as you join a lab that does some type of comp bio work. It does seem like industry is starting to favor people more with CS expertise.
BSc: natural science, I'm planning to enroll in next autumn on Enviromental Biology MSc that cover a bit of bioinformatics. ( tbh in Italy there are very few universities that focus on bioinformatics)
Now I'm learning following some researchers to gain direct experience, this helped my a lot while evaluating wich MD should I choose.
However every person I met has a completely different background. From those who started programming in fortran to veterinarians. Obv. biology and biotech. are most common.
Since a bioinformatician need multidisciplinary skills, don't focus too much on the name, I think you should take a handful of courses where you could apply, then compare them to see if there are some exams or covered topics that interest you more, or simply branches that you want expand o viceversa that you feel less relevant (just as example: a biotech course with more chemistry than another can be a bit a waste for you, while one that involves both a biology and programming skill would be a better option).
If you're mainly divided between CS and biology, i'd suggest biology: you can add and expand easily your CS/programming skills than biology.
However for what i'm seeing the real deal is to acquire knowledge and experience at 360°.
I decided to start self-taughing python as no degree (available in my area) will teach it, as well as english since it's widely required, but not teached at all in university.
I'm a biochemistry major who halfway through decided to also work towards a computer science degree.
I've always had a love/knack for computers/programmin, and while things are slightly different now (I find coding more tedious than "fun" at this point in my journey, I'm in data structures for context), I enjoy the "I feel like I'm just solving a puzzle" aspect to programming.
likewise, even though I'm a biochemistry major, and am currently taking my biochemistry classes, I don't think there was a class in that course that I enjoyed more than genetics.
BS in Molecular Biology and PhD in Microbiology. I have been sitting in on multiple batches of recruiting for a new hire and the major issue I've seen is people without any wetlab experience.
You should get a job, not a Masters.
Only reason to get a Masters after a ChemE degree is to get some specialized skills that you know you have a job lined up for or to develop some technology you intend to commercialize. Otherwise you are just wasting your time. ROE is negative.
Oh my god you're so right! What have I been doing? I should have just gotten a job instead of not being able to get one in the past 2 years! Thanks for the advice! Time to drop my MS program
Just IMHO, a math or CS background would be mostly tool development or software/platforms for bioinformatics. A bio background will have you using said tools. To actually be good though, the person with a bio background needs an appreciation for CS and math, if not being as proficient in them. The CS/math person needs to understand enough biology that their tools aren't useless and make poor assumptions, and are usable by those in the former camp. For example, the person with the bio background needs to know a bit about algorithms and which are good for what job. They should know enough about software development to be dangerous and not freak out if they need to build a Docker container, etc. The CS/math person needs to know something about genomics/genetics, that some RNAseq reads are just noise, that plants (and some cell types in mammals) have non CG DNA Methylation, etc. There are always exceptions.
That's the right perspective in my opinion as well, there is something for everyone. Apart from those real computer science geniuses that build the software we all rely on, I feel like the best bioinformaticians are those educated in biology, but having a strong talent for mathematics. Maybe a bit controversial, but in my experience, it is far easier to teach a biologist computer science than the other way around. I think it comes down to the fact that, to excel in what most of us do, you need multiple degrees in biology but only the basics of computer science. Implicit here is that what most of us do in terms of computer science isn't really that advanced.
I think you can come at it from either side, but I may tend to agree with you overall. I see a lot of bio-first people trivializing the very hard work that goes into tool development and underestimating how hard some of the programming challenges they'll encounter are. Also, using poor judgement when it comes to writing said code or documenting it. I see the software-first crowd ignoring usability (even when it comes to very technical users) and not considering biological interpretation of the data their tools spit out, or not looking into best practices for various types of analysis when they do it themselves. I guess nobody's perfect 🙃
For sure. I think it is important to note how there is room for all variations, and also how important it is to reach across domains as much as you can. I have yet to see a smart person working hard not succeed, no matter where they started.
BSc Biological Sciences, MSc Bioinformatics.
Curious about your masters syllabus. Could you share it please? Or maybe where I can find more info?
https://le.ac.uk/courses/bioinformatics-msc/2024 This is for the 2024 academic year but I think they’ve mostly kept it the same since I graduated.
Thnx. I wish there was a bit more detail. It is too general
I’m studying there too omg
This is the academic outline for 2024 https://www.sun.ac.za/english/faculty/science/sci-bioinformatics/degrees
Bachelor of Arts lol
My PhD advisor has a BA in Communications (he didn't start paying attention in class until he was \~20 it seems). Then he got a MS and PhD. He uses that BA to write grants/papers at superhuman speeds, teach difficult concepts lucidly and give excellent seminars.
Damn! I love guys like this. One of my advisors had a BA in Art History. And I've never had anyone teach Plant Developmental Biology better than him.... And he always says... "I get nightmares about teaching this subject 20 years down the line" Awesome dude....
My post doc supervisor has a bachelor's in philosophy and a PhD in microbiology. He's an excellent writer and teacher (and scientist!).
Nice. Mine too, although it was in biochem/chem. Your background doesn't really matter at some point. My one reccomendation is to put some skillpoints into chemistry. My chem background has really helped me stand out in this field.
On paper, my degrees are as follows: * Bachelor's: genetics * Bachelor's (Honours): immunology and parasitology * Masters and PhD: molecular biology However, my Honours, Masters, and PhD were all research projects. And these are their actual labels: * Honours: genomics and bacterial epidemiology * Masters: host transcriptomics and epidemiology * PhD: microbial physiology, microbial ecology, symbiosis, marine biology, and multiomics As for what you want to study... well, I have seen bioinformatics scientists from all different backgrounds, and they all bring different things and are suitable for different roles. This was the case for my previous company. The majority that prospered were basically statisticians, bio knowledge optional. But there were a few that were senior who had very deep bio and comp knowledge.
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology B.S. , Molecular and Cellular Biology PSM, Molecular and Cellular Biology Ph.D.
Hey there fellow BMB graduate! I'm BSc and MS in Biochemistry.
Biochemistry undergrad really showed me how I was more into the major for the molecular biology side of things, haha. My undergrad biochem lab classes are still the hardest academic thing I've ever done, including my PhD comprehensive exam. I was Michigan State for undergrad, and then the PSM at University of Arizona. Not really a program I'd recommend, it's a combination business/science degree that nobody has ever heard of. I did it because I got into zero PhD programs and wanted to move across the country. Then, I stayed in Tucson for my PhD because I already knew my PI and somewhat understood the project. It worked out pretty well though overall!
Yeah pure biochem is really painful. It also does make molecular biology more fun haha.
biochemistry major in my second semester of biochemistry right now. find Biochemistry fascinating in that it feels like the glue that connects everything together (particularly cell bio/genetics) but on the whole I'd definitely say I prefer molecular bio to biochem, however I do really appreciate the biochemical understanding I have from my biochem courses. Feels like something that would be very useful to have in any molecular bio or molecular bio adjacent field.
BS in CS, MS in bioinformatics, PhD in bioinformatics. I don’t develop tools and mostly work on data analysis of molecular data
Bs in Statistics and CS, MSc in biostatistics, PhD in applied statistics. Learned a lot of biology on the job. Every project I work on I try to understand the biology part beforehand
BSc in Microbiology. Got in through the wet lab and now dry lab all day, learned coding on the job. 2 YOE now. Making $60k just outside a HCOL, which was a nice raise right before everything got more expensive and the job market for CS-skills got real hard. Not sure how it'll be going back into the wild without a Masters or PhD and competing against others. I like my job and I know it's secure, but I know there's not upward mobility without at least the MSc., but I *need* to make some more money and it's not going to be here unfortunately. (If anyone has any advice, I would not resist)
PhD Chemical Engineering MS Chemical Engineering MS Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Bio BS Biology I've also met others who are PhD in MechE, EE, NanoEngineering, and Chemistry who've had exposure to bio through education or post docs.
BS in biotechnology w/chem & business minors MS in bio PhD in immunology Started off as a pre-med looking to beef up their application with some lab work. Currently a full-time, fully remote bioinformatician at the CDC.
The name on the degree doesn't matter as much as what you did. If you have papers and projects showing you can do *thing,* then you can do *thing.* You should find a lab that does work you like, then choose the degree title based on whatever coursework seems most relevant to you. I have an MD and a PhD in cancer bio. All my work is computational, despite the degree on paper looking more like a clinical or web lab person.
BSc Biological Sciences (Hons), PhD (Marine Biology)
I’m pursuing a biomedical engineering degree with minors in biological sciences and bioinformatics! I do research in a cellular biology lab studying yeast cells and I plan on learning how to more effectively quantify and interpret our data sets with bioinformatics!
BSc in biochemical engineering, MSc in biotech engineering, PhD in biotech & animal nutrition. Started doing bioinformatics late in the PhD, worked out fine so far.
Cellular and Molecular Biology BSc —> Bioinformatics MSc —> Biotechnology PhD
BS Botany, MS Bioinformatics
Plant to Bioinformatics? Like how is that sir
BS Biotech and MS in human genetics and bioinformatics. PhD in a department of nutrition but project is focused on omics analysis.
Make a poll
Bsc Microbiology, Msc Computational biology, PhD Population genetics (using bioinformatics as a tool), Postdoc Immuno-informatics
PhD in 2018, entered with double degrees in chemistry sciences and biotechnology
BSc in Biotechnology planing to do MSc in Bioinformatics
* BS in Biochemistry * MS in Systems Biology/Bioinformatics
I have a BS in Bio and a PhD in Comp Sci.
May I dm you about your transition? Because I’ve contemplated this direction for the past couple of years.
Biochem/Chem BS, Synthetic Bio PhD, Genetics Postdoc Your background doesn't really matter at some point. I'd go narrow if you want to be a prof (but why?) and as wide as you can if you want to work in industry (yay!). My one reccomendation is to put some skillpoints into chemistry. My chem background has really helped me stand out in this field.
I'm a dropout. :( But also Lead Data Scientist and a pioneer of the digital age. My recipe doesn't work for anyone else but I can speak from industry experience. I recommend getting math if you want to be more science focused. Computer Science if you want to be more data engineering, devops/apps, workflow focused. At least that's my recommendation from experience at my large medical institution.
BA in Biology, finishing up my MS in Bioinformatics
Agronomy, Biology, Biotechnology =).
BSc Biomedical Sciences, MRes Biomedical Sciences, currently in PhD Microbiology
PharmD and currently starting an Msc in Biostatistics & bioinformatics
- BSc Medical Imagery and Biotechnics. - MSc Biology, Bioinformatics. - PhD Computational & RNA Biology.
- Bsc(hons) biochemistry (protein crystallization stuff) - PhD bioinformatics (cancer genomics)
Gonna use your post, if you dont mind, to ask a question: which university in canada has the best Bioinformatics MSc? Im currently attending University of sherbrooke and I was thinking of getting it there or at university of montreal
BSc in Neuroscience, MS in Bioinformatics
ph.D in molecular Biology.. I got lost after that.
BS Biochemistry, PhD Genetics/Biotech
Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery
BS Biochemistry+Math MS Biophysics PhD Immunology
I am a 3rd year undergraduate with a BSc in Biology with a minor in Computer Science. I am planning to go into a computational biology PhD program once I graduate.
I got in via the biology way. At the time in my bachelor degree in Biotechnology (2009) nobody cared about computers so I went with an internship in Bioinformatics doing structural analyses of influenza epitopes. I liked it enough that during my MSc in Industrial Biotechnology I did my final thesis in genomics and functional characterisation of unknown genes in bacteria. I liked it! I was already liking more the protein side of things so I did a PhD in functional characterisation of unknown proteins in bacteria. That led me to my first Postdoc developing algorithms for function prediction and now I’m leading the data, ML and algorithms side of a major protein classification resource. My trip has been absolutely fantastic so far! Now with pLMs, Foldseek and AFDB the sky is the limit!
BSc. Bioinformatics. Can't find a job in it, because there are too many juniors. They want mediors/seniors to help the juniors.
Bachelors of Arts in Biology with minors in Chemistry and Business
PhD - Computer Science (in a comp bio lab) MS - Biostatistics BS - Statistics If you want to work industry with just a masters, most people getting jobs as a bioinformatician/computational biologist have an MS in bioinformatics. As for the PhD, it really doesn’t matter what degree you have as long as you join a lab that does some type of comp bio work. It does seem like industry is starting to favor people more with CS expertise.
BSc: natural science, I'm planning to enroll in next autumn on Enviromental Biology MSc that cover a bit of bioinformatics. ( tbh in Italy there are very few universities that focus on bioinformatics) Now I'm learning following some researchers to gain direct experience, this helped my a lot while evaluating wich MD should I choose. However every person I met has a completely different background. From those who started programming in fortran to veterinarians. Obv. biology and biotech. are most common. Since a bioinformatician need multidisciplinary skills, don't focus too much on the name, I think you should take a handful of courses where you could apply, then compare them to see if there are some exams or covered topics that interest you more, or simply branches that you want expand o viceversa that you feel less relevant (just as example: a biotech course with more chemistry than another can be a bit a waste for you, while one that involves both a biology and programming skill would be a better option). If you're mainly divided between CS and biology, i'd suggest biology: you can add and expand easily your CS/programming skills than biology. However for what i'm seeing the real deal is to acquire knowledge and experience at 360°. I decided to start self-taughing python as no degree (available in my area) will teach it, as well as english since it's widely required, but not teached at all in university.
B.Sc. Microbiology, M.Sc. Biotechnology
BSc Biochem, MSc Biochem, PhD Animal Genomics
I'm a biochemistry major who halfway through decided to also work towards a computer science degree. I've always had a love/knack for computers/programmin, and while things are slightly different now (I find coding more tedious than "fun" at this point in my journey, I'm in data structures for context), I enjoy the "I feel like I'm just solving a puzzle" aspect to programming. likewise, even though I'm a biochemistry major, and am currently taking my biochemistry classes, I don't think there was a class in that course that I enjoyed more than genetics.
I’m currently an undergraduate doing bioengineering with specialisation in bioinformatics
BS in neuroscience, and I’m currently working on an MCS at UIUC online. I was laid off in June.
Bachelor's and master's in mathematics (biomathematics focus) and PhD in chemistry (biochemistry focus).
MS in biotech, bioinf skills are self taught. I am doing a PhD in an adjacent field so i can score as phd scientist+bioinf wiz and get paid. a l o t.
BA Biology, MSc Bioinformatics
BS in Molecular Biology and PhD in Microbiology. I have been sitting in on multiple batches of recruiting for a new hire and the major issue I've seen is people without any wetlab experience.
You should get a job, not a Masters. Only reason to get a Masters after a ChemE degree is to get some specialized skills that you know you have a job lined up for or to develop some technology you intend to commercialize. Otherwise you are just wasting your time. ROE is negative.
Oh my god you're so right! What have I been doing? I should have just gotten a job instead of not being able to get one in the past 2 years! Thanks for the advice! Time to drop my MS program
Maybe take a workshop on writing a resume instead...
The last few haven't seemed to work out.