Posted: 4/9/2004 2:43:09 PM EDT
|
I just got a job as a post-doctoral fellow in bioinformatics at a cancer research center. Well, my background is in computational intelligence (pattern recognition, neural networks, fuzzy logic, automatic target recognition, etc.) ..... I know what they want me to do as far as the computation. But I am still blind what is going on at the front end of the problem. Maybe someone with microbiology background can help me? Thanks oz |
|
What?! You're educated enough (in computational intelligence, you say!) to qualify for, and undertake, a post-doctoral position but cannot type "bioinformatics" into a google search page and do a bit of reading on your own? Why don't you ask the Principal Investigators (PIs) to brief you on the entire project ... they should be happy to explain what it is they're doing, the rationale behind the approach they are taking, and where they see you (and your skill set) fitting into the scheme of things. There will be nobody more expert and informed than the PIs concerning the biological basis of the laboratory's research efforts. At the very least, you should read some of the recent publications that have come out of the lab to get an idea of what they are specifically working on. Plus, by showing an interest in understanding all facets of the work assignments you'll be given, the PIs will most likely view you as a "keeper" and you may be offered a "real job" (or at least great referrals) when your post-doc servitude is completed. Why didn't you ask this while you were being interviewed for the position? I don't mean to bust your chops too much ... it just seems odd that one would not perform due diligence before committing to the obligations of a post-doctoral position. I would also expect that somebody who has earned a Ph.D. would already possess the intelluctual drive to independently seek your own enlightenment, despite not being an expert in the biological aspects of the project(s) you'll soon find yourself working on. Instead, you post on this board like a high-school student looking to have someone supply you with the answer(s) to a homework assignment. Sorry for the rant. I just get a somewhat agitated when I see the product of a post-graduate education conduct themselves in such an intellectually lazy manner. It was this kind of thing that was partially responsible for my decision to leave the academic field behind. (BTW - I hold a Ph.D. in microbiology from U.C. Berkeley, and did a post-doc in bioinformatics). |
|
Quoted: What?! You're educated enough (in computational intelligence, you say!) to qualify for, and undertake, a post-doctoral position but cannot type "bioinformatics" into a google search page and do a bit of reading on your own? Why don't you ask the Principal Investigators (PIs) to brief you on the entire project ... they should be happy to explain what it is they're doing, the rationale behind the approach they are taking, and where they see you (and your skill set) fitting into the scheme of things. There will be nobody more expert and informed than the PIs concerning the biological basis of the laboratory's research efforts. At the very least, you should read some of the recent publications that have come out of the lab to get an idea of what they are specifically working on. Plus, by showing an interest in understanding all facets of the work assignments you'll be given, the PIs will most likely view you as a "keeper" and you may be offered a "real job" (or at least great referrals) when your post-doc servitude is completed. Why didn't you ask this while you were being interviewed for the position? I don't mean to bust your chops too much ... it just seems odd that one would not perform due diligence before committing to the obligations of a post-doctoral position. I would also expect that somebody who has earned a Ph.D. would already possess the intelluctual drive to independently seek your own enlightenment, despite not being an expert in the biological aspects of the project(s) you'll soon find yourself working on. Instead, you post on this board like a high-school student looking to have someone supply you with the answer(s) to a homework assignment. Sorry for the rant. I just get a somewhat agitated when I see the product of a post-graduate education conduct themselves in such an intellectually lazy manner. It was this kind of thing that was partially responsible for my decision to leave the academic field behind. (BTW - I hold a Ph.D. in microbiology from U.C. Berkeley, and did a post-doc in bioinformatics). First I did not know that it was an interview I went to this morning. Because I have not officially applied for the position. The PI called me to have a "discussion", so I went in with a pen and a notebook. This PI worked with my Prof. on some medical projects in the past. In fact he was in my panel when I did the fuzzy rule-base chromosome karyotyping system for my MS degree. We talked about the computational aspect of his project, such as datawarehousing and the clustering algorithm they used to process their microarray data. This I know. But when he started talking about the front end, which is the biology part of the field, things started to go blurry for me. At the end of the conversation he offered me the position. I have not officially accepted it, but I think I will because it sounds challenging, a different kind of animal than say .... the automatic landmine detection that I have been doing. So it has been only 9 hours since the time I found out that I have been offered this position. So give me a break if I dont know the biology side of this field. Why he hires me anyway? I have no idea. I am good in my field, clustering, pattern recognition, fuzzy logic etc. And I know they need someone to develop new clustering methods for processing the microarray data. But what this data represents and how they are generated is still beyond my comprehension. My Ph.D. is in computer engineering. Not microbiology. Oh yes, I found stuff in google and check out some books from the library. Not trying to be a troll, just trying to learn something new a little faster than just reading from books and/or the internet (which I am doing right now). |