Regional Student Group NBIC Career Presentation April 18, 2011

“ CV Talk” Philip E. Bourne PhD [email_address] http://www.sdsc.edu/pb http://www.sdsc.edu/~bourne Ten Simple Rules PLoS Comp Biol Collection “ I Am Now Officially Old”

The Life of One Scientist – The Early Years So That You Might Not Make the Same Mistakes
My high school teacher Mr. Wilson said I would be a failure at chemistry
My PhD is in chemistry
The opportunity to live in different places shaped my life
What you like when you are a kid may shape your future

40+ Years Later
Good friends are forever

BSc (Hon) It was About Then I Began to Understand Myself – But I Still Made Mistakes

PhD – The Molecular Basis of Cancer Treatment
I thought I was at the center of the scientific universe
I later discovered I was actually in deep space
I defined my own projects that interested me in the broad lab framework

I Love Computers Circa 1974
Your head will tell you stuff
Your heart will tell you something different
Follow your heart

Postdoctoral Work – The Molecular Basis of How the Body Works
Regrets: never learnt another language

Studying Iron Metabolism

Some Things Stay with You Your Whole Life

I Got Involved in Open Source Software
Look for the signs that will shape your later life

Senior Scientist – Columbia University New York
Driven not by career but wanting to live in New York City

The IT Years
Thought more about money than science
Paid the price in later years – only now catching up
Do I have regrets? - Nah
Stated another way – science is for the long haul and it is about establishing a reputation
May have “wasted” the most productive years
2011 Ten Simple Rules for Developing and Maintaining a Scientific Reputation PLoS Comp. Biol. , To appear shortly 2007 Ten Simple Rules for Doing Your Best Research, According to Hamming PLoS Comp. Biol ., 3(10): e213

The Authoring Years

Make the most of every day
Don’t sweat the small stuff

Got Involved with the The Human Genome – Was Only Possible by Applying Computers to Problems in Biology
Realized what was coming and leveraged the possibilities
Built on existing strengths
Was prepared to move
Picked the best place

1995 – Went to UCSD to Apply Computers to Big Biological Problems
Possibly the best place in the world to do computational biology

www.sdsc.edu/pb

RCSB PDB 1998 - Number of released entries Year

The RCSB PDB was a Big Plus
Money talks even in academia
Satisfied my needs – that engineer again
High visibility
Used it to leverage my research

ISCB Involvement 1998-
Local chair ISMB 2000
Secretary 2001-2
President 2002-3
Program chair ISMB 2006
Program chair RECOMB 2005
Important to give as well as take
Great way to network – this is a major key to success
Teaches you important skills eg management
Balance it – It is only a very small part of your legacy

PLoS Comp. Biol. 2005-
Why? - Was disenchanted with where bioinformatics was headed
Why? Had tenure already
A distant second – though open access was a good idea
Outcome – very pleased with what we have accomplished
A true team effort
Been able to express myself in new ways
Some recognition, but a lot of work
Get to see a lot of good and bad papers

Today - Big Research Questions in the Lab
Can we improve how science is disseminated and comprehended?
What is the ancestry of the protein structure universe and what can we learn from it?
Are there alternative ways to represent proteins from which we can learn something new?
What really happens when we take a drug?
Can we contribute to the treatment of neglected {tropical} diseases?
August 14, 2009

Student of Many Things – Master of None
Work with others who can fill the gaps, which implies:
Management
Delegation
Self confidence

Motivation

There Have Been a Few Ah Hah Moments

Current Career Goals
Crowd source the twenty first century printing press
Make a significant contribution to peoples lives as a result of work on a neglected disease
Inspire young minds

A Few of Life’s Lessons
Manage by doing not by saying
Treat people well always – you will feel good and it pays off
Being a successful scientist is about (in ~ order): innovation, papers, communication, management, networking
Every day ask yourself if you are content – if the answer is no do something else

Life Is About Balance – Easy to Say Hard to Do

More Information
Lab: http://www.sdsc.edu/pb
Google – PLoS Collections – 10 Rules
Great Motorcycle Journeys of the World: http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/OFL

Regional Student Group NBIC Career Presentation April 18, 2011

by Philip Bourne

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Regional Student Group NBIC Career Presentation April 18, 2011 Presentation Transcript