by Rukia Henry
What can you be with a PhD (WCUB) is a career symposium that is held biennially. It is supported by the New York Regional Consortium of Schools, in association with Nature Careers. The two-day event is held to facilitate panels of professionals that can engage in active discussions around traditional and alternative careers that students can pursue with a PhD degree. The panel discussions ranged in varying topics and had professional representatives from organizations in business, government, academia, and the public and private sector. This is the first post in a four-part series that will cover the sessions that I attended at the two-day symposium.
Day One, Part 1: Careers in Bioinformatics and Genomics The panellists for this session included Dr Issac Galatzer-Levy, VP of Clinical and Computational Neuroscience at AiCure, Dr Zachary Kurtz, Scientist at Lodo Therapeutics and Dr Jonathan Scheiman, Co-Founder and CEO of FitBiomics. The moderator of the panel was Dr Jim Hayes, Field Application Scientist, and Clinical Bioinformatics at QIAGEN. There is a genomics revolution occurring in our present generation that has taken off extraordinarily. We are now able to generate and analyze unprecedented amounts of data in diverse fields of science and research within a short period of time. This has given us the ability to progress, especially in the biomedical field, by sorting, processing, and analyzing huge data sets of patient information, which has helped us to tailor targeted and precise medical treatments. The fields of genomics and bioinformatics have become closely related to each other, and with this new technological tool, scientists are now readily able to transform genomic information that will move the medical field forward. Scientists and graduate students in training can benefit immensely from the opportunities that the computational and bioinformatics field has to offer. Especially students who mainly conduct research in a laboratory setting where chemical and biological matter is processed, the ability to transform the data produced and make meaningful connections with consortiums of similar data is made possible with bioinformatics. Is a Post-Doctoral Appointment Necessary for a Career in Bioinformatics? The panellists discussed ways in which they were able to transition from a wet lab to bioinformatics and computational positions. In order to facilitate the transition into the bioinformatics job market, the importance of obtaining post-doctoral training was discussed. Two of the panellists, Dr Issac Galatzer-Levy and Dr Jonathan Scheiman, both held post-doctoral appointments. Dr Galatzer-Levy first went into academia, and in addition to his position at AiCure, he currently holds an adjunct professorship at Columbia University in the Department of Psychiatry. He noted that at the time of obtaining his Ph.D., he initially did not consider a career in bioinformatics or computational biology. However, it soon became clear the plethora of benefits and advantages the emerging field has to offer. Dr Scheiman, however, noted that he obtained his postdoctoral degree more recently than Dr Isaac and while in his appointment, he likewise saw the great benefit of this tool and decided to co-found FitBiomics. FitBiomics is a biotech company that utilizes next-generation sequencing to analyze the microbiome of athletes to identify, analyze and isolate novel populations of bacteria that can be transformed into probiotic supplements. Dr Scheiman obtained his PhD in the field of medical oncology. Both Dr Scheiman and Dr Issac received PhD training in the natural and medical sciences and were both able to successfully transition into careers in Bioinformatics and Genomics. The consensus among the panellists is that, while a postdoctoral appointment is deemed important for a career in academia, you can increase your skills in biology or genetics, thereby setting yourself up to be proficient and an expert in your research field. Besides, you can go into a postdoctoral appointment with the interest to start your own company, and you will have the opportunity to develop, optimize and license a technique that you can later transform and be of relevance in the field of Bioinformatics and Genomics. Mainly, what you develop as a post-doc can be used to build and develop a company of your own, or translate that into the bioinformatics sphere instead of starting your own lab, an advantage Dr Scheiman saw and employed. Dr Kurtz was the only panellist who did not complete postdoctoral training, having completed a PhD in Microbiology and Systems Biology and NYU School of Medicine. Part of his graduate school training, however, involved computational analysis of the gut microbiome. Nonetheless, one disadvantage that not completing a postdoc appointment may pose is the level that you enter the job market. Candidates with just a PhD degree usually end up with entry-level positions, while the ones who have completed a post-doctoral training may be propelled to a level 2 scientist in a company. Getting a Job in the Genomics and Bioinformatics Market As discussed above, while postdoctoral training may be more beneficial for a career in academia, you can use this time of training as an opportunity to increase your skills in molecular biology as well and gain more experience in computational biology. Having a background in bioinformatics can most definitely make you more competitive and marketable. To gain such experience, you can begin by learning how to use and be proficient in R and Python programming languages. According to Dr Scheiman, “you should know enough to be dangerous.” In addition, it is important that while learning these languages, you gain the valuable skill in being proficient in analyzing large data sets. You should be able to build a model where data can be continuously translational to the real world. And how can you accomplish that? Most of the panellists advised taking advantage of training videos on YouTube and free content on the World Wide Web. Dr Kurtz recommended that graduate students should also consider learning how to perform cloud computing and sign up for Amazon Web Service, a platform that trains you on computing and managing massive databases online and in the cloud. Handling Imposter Syndrome in the Bioinformatics World Most of the panellists were trained in ‘wet lab’ and had degrees that are not in Bioinformatics or Computational Genomics. One topic discussed was dealing with imposter syndrome as you navigate a field where you did not earn professional training. The resounding advice that all the panellists shared was that “everyone is making it up as they go.” It is crucial that you become well versed and trained in your area of expertise, and with your valuable training and knowledge, you are actually at an advantage. It is important also to know that you learn something new every day, and no one knows everything. Being trained as a scientist in an academic setting may help you to develop valuable skills that may prove useful in non-academic working environments. Most scientists are trained to be critical thinkers, and you become well versed in making and executing plans. While most experts in the bioinformatics world may only know what is in their world, you bring the perspective of being able to be a liaison between the service being built and offered, and the customers and target audience the service is provided to. According to Dr Galatzer-Levy, never let the IT team try to speak with the customers. This post was edited by Janaina Pereira and Helena Mello.