Career Choices for Bioinformatics Majors

Career Choices for Bioinformatics Majors What is Bioinformatics? Bioinformatics is the use of computers and statistics to make sense out of the huge mounds of data that are accumulating from high-throughput biological and chemical experiments, such as sequencing of whole genomes, DNA microarray chips, two-hybrid experiments, and tandem mass spectrometry. There are three different approaches to bioinformatics: Tool building. Creating new programs and methods for analyzing and organizing data. This is where our UCSC graduate program is focused. Tool using. Using existing programs and data to answer biologically interesting questions. UCSC faculty members believe that this type of bioinformatics does not need a separate degree, but should be part of every new biologist's training. Tool maintenance. Setting up databases, translating biologists' questions into ones that programs can answer, keeping the tools working and the databases up to date. The undergraduate bioinformatics program at UCSC prepares students for this role in industry, as well as for going into graduate school. More information can be found at: What is Bioinformatics: http://www.binf.umn.edu/whatsbinf.html Common Career Paths: You can work at the interface between biochemistry, computer science, and mathematics, creating new solutions for high-throughput chemistry, designing analysis systems for drug design, and many other things. Our graduates in bioinformatics have not had any difficulty finding jobs. Our Ph.D. students have been sought for faculty positions. One of our graduate students went on leave to form a company that was recently purchased by Affymetrix. We hope he'll finish up one day! Assistant Laboratory Manager Biochemist Bioinformatician Bioinformatics and Microarray Analyst Bioinformatics Business Developer Bioinformatics Developer Bioinformatics Researcher Bioinformatics Software Engineer Bioinformatics Support Specialist Biologist Biostatician Biostatistician Biotech Engineer Biotech Lab Technician Biotech product marketing manager Chemist Clinical Engineering Executive Clinical Research Specialist Computational Biology Applications Engineer Computational Chemist Computational Scientist Data Analyst Data Manager Bioinformatics08.doc Data Miner Database Manager Director – Biostatistics and data management Director of Data Management Director of Operations – Biotech firm Foresight Nanotech Institute Immuno Assay Reagent Production Manager Laboratory Manager Laboratory Systems Specialist Life Science Consultant Planning Analyst Product Development Manager Product Manager Product Representative Project Manager QA Engineer/Scientist Research Associate Research Scientist Scientific Chemistry Application Developer Scientific Programmer Software and IT Support Engineer Statistician Structural Bioinformatics Project Leader updated 7/08 TYPES OF EMPLOYERS          Pharmaceutical companies Technology giants like Motorola and IBM that are targeting the rapidly growing life-sciences field. Research universities Biomolecular labs Federal government departments: GenBank, a free database hosted inside the Department of Energy National Institutes of Health, Genome companies such as: Human Genome Sciences and Celera Bioinformatics companies that focus on providing the software Start-ups, like Silicon Genetics in Redwood City Software development companies like Oracle Job Web Sites for Bioinformatics Intl. Society for Computational Biology http://www.iscb.org/mem_job_board.php?1 Bio Planet http://www.bioplanet.com/ BioSpaceJobs http://www.biospacejobs.com hireBio http://informatics.hirebio.com/ Color Base Pair http://www.colorbasepair.com/ Career Builder – Science & Biotech Jobs http://sciencebiotech.careerbuilder.com Hire Life Science http://www.HireLifeScience.com Medzilla (Biotech, Medical, etc job listings) http://www.medzilla.com/ New Scientist (job listings) http://www.newscientist.com/home.ns Life Sciences World http://www.lifesciencesworld.com/jobs Boston.com http://www.boston.com/jobs/browse/jobs/bioinformatics.shtml For more bioinformatics career information visit: UCSC Bioinfortmatics FAQ web site: http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/programs/bioinformatics/undergraduate/faq.html 123 Genomics http://www.123genomics.homestead.com University of the Sciences in Philadelphia http://www.usip.edu/graduate/bioinformatics/ Select “Career Opportunities” Bioplanet http://www.bioplanet.com/whatis.html Chemical & Engineering News - Article on Careers in Bioinformatics http://pubs.acs.org/cen/employment/8001/8001employment.html Bioinformatics08.doc updated 7/08 Bioinformatics08.doc updated 7/08