Education & Career Trends: October 19
Curated by the Knowledge Team of ICS Career GPS
- Excerpts are taken from an article published on graduate.northeastern.edu
Bioinformatics is a multidisciplinary field combining statistics, biology, computer science, engineering, and mathematics to analyse and decipher biological data. It is one of the most promising and rapidly evolving career fields in science and technology. It has applications in various domains such as health care, agriculture, biotechnology, environment, forensics, etc.
There have been massive advancements in next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, and the generation of massive amounts of data needs to be stored, processed and analysed using bioinformatics tools and techniques. Also, the emergence of big data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) has enabled the extraction of meaningful insights from complex and heterogeneous biological data.
Some of the areas where bioinformatics has a significant impact are:
- Healthcare: Bioinformatics plays a vital role in improving the quality and efficiency of healthcare delivery by enabling the discovery of new biomarkers, drug targets, therapies and diagnostics. It also helps in understanding the genetic basis of diseases, identifying disease susceptibility and predicting treatment outcomes.
- Agriculture: Bioinformatics can help enhance the productivity and sustainability of agriculture by enabling the development of improved crops and livestock with desirable traits such as disease resistance, drought tolerance, pest resistance, nutrient efficiency and yield. Pursuing a course for MSc bioinformatics jobs can also help understand the molecular mechanisms of plant growth and development, stress responses and adaptation.
- Biotechnology: Bioinformatics can support the innovation and growth of biotechnology by enabling the design and engineering of novel biological systems such as enzymes, proteins, vaccines, antibodies and biosensors. It can also help optimise biotechnology products’ production processes and quality control. Bioinformatics can also facilitate the development of synthetic biology and biofuels by providing tools for the modelling, simulation and analysis of biological networks and pathways.
- Environment: Bioinformatics can contribute to the protection and restoration of the environment by enabling the monitoring and assessment of environmental quality, pollution and contamination. It can also help in understanding the impact of climate change on ecosystems and biodiversity jobs after an MSc in bioinformatics.
What are the career opportunities in bioinformatics?
Bioinformatics offers multiple career opportunities for students and professionals passionate about biology and computer science. Bioinformatics professionals can pursue jobs in various sectors such as academia, research institutes, industry, government organisations, hospitals, pharmaceuticals etc.
These are some of the popular job roles in the field of bioinformatics:
1. Bioinformatics Analyst
- A bioinformatics analyst is responsible for collecting, processing, analysing and interpreting biological data using various tools and software.
- The bioinformatics analyst may also develop new algorithms or pipelines for data analysis.
- A bioinformatics analyst may work on different data types, such as genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, etc.
2. Bioinformatician
- A bioinformatician is a person who applies bioinformatics methods and techniques to solve biological problems or answer biological questions.
- BSc bioinformatics jobs may be involved in research projects on genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, etc.
- A bioinformatician may also design and implement new bioinformatics solutions or systems.
3. Bio-Statistician
- A bio-statistician is a person who applies statistical methods and models to analyse biological data.
- They may also perform statistical tests or experiments to validate or verify biological hypotheses or results.
- A bio-statistician may work on various data types, such as clinical and epidemiological data.
4. Medical Coder
- A medical coder is a person who assigns codes to medical records or documents using standardised coding systems such as ICD-10 or CPT, and may also review or audit medical records or documents for accuracy or compliance.
- A medical coder may work for hospitals, clinics or insurance companies.
5. Bioinformatics Research Associate
- A bioinformatics research associate is a person who assists or supports a senior researcher or scientist in conducting bioinformatics research projects.
- This job role comes after MSc bioinformatics, where the bioinformatics research associate may collect data, process, analyse, visualise, report, etc.
6. Technology Manager
- A technology manager is a person who manages or oversees the development, implementation, maintenance, and improvement of bioinformatics technologies or systems.
- A technology manager may also coordinate or supervise the work of other bioinformatics professionals or teams.
7. Microbiologist
- Microbiologists study organisms such as bacteria and viruses that cannot be seen with the naked eye.
- A background in bioinformatics can help microbiologists interpret anomalies and other patterns in their research data, which in turn can be used to identify areas of additional research or discover new ways that an organism may impact our health.
- Understanding how to display data and analyse it in an approachable way is a key part of the role.
8. Zoologist or Wildlife Biologist
- These scientists study animals that are visible to the naked eye, whether it’s a single species or a larger group of animals.
- Data collection and analysis play a big part in this work, whether gathering specimens, studying migration patterns, or examining satellite and climate data.
- Knowledge of bioinformatics supports zoologists and wildlife biologists in conducting more in-depth analyses of population models, genetics, or the impact of habitat change.
9. Molecular Biologist
- A molecular biologist looks at individual cells and molecules in plants, animals, and humans, paying particular attention to how they interact.
- Bioinformatics skills are helpful for the role of the molecular biologist due to the size of the human genome (more than 3 billion pairs of nucleotide bases) and the human proteome, or set of proteins in the human body.
- In addition, the ability to analyse text, images, or sound files can help molecular biologists generate results from large sets of raw data.
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(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article mentioned above are those of the author(s). They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of ICS Career GPS or its staff.)
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