Bioinformatics emerged as a field in the 1970s-1980s as areas of biology increasingly relied on computational methods. There were two main types of students in bioinformatics - computer scientists interested in biology and biologists skilled in computing. The bioinformatics market continues to grow worldwide and major employers include pharmaceutical and biotech companies. A career in bioinformatics requires strong skills in biology, computing, programming, data analysis, visualization and teamwork. Opportunities exist in areas like sequence assembly, genomic analysis, functional genomics, and database administration.

1. Careers In Bioinformatics
Scope, Skills and Jobs

2. In Past
No field of bioinformatics in 1970 to 80’s.
Areas of biology that required substantial use of the computer.
So
Why Bioinformatics emerged so quickly?
Crystallographers had to write code to transform x-ray diffraction data into
molecular structure predictions; evolutionary biologists had to create databases to
store protein and DNA sequences produced by the introduction of sequencing
technology. Arguably this is where the field of bioinformatics began, and is why
structure and sequence analysis used to be the majority.

3. Two types of students in this field now
1. Computer scientists who enjoyed
biology at school and are
interested in tackling biological
problems, and
2. Biologists who are handy with
computers and fancy taking this
from a hobby to a profession.

4. Scope for Bioinformatics
• There is still a wealth of biological
information out there to be
deciphered, and there also be an
increase in the number of
bioinformatics research programs.
• Also the bioinformatics market
despite everything is still growing
worldwide and is expected to
surpass the 50 billion dollar mark
soon.

5. Major Employers of Bioinformaticians
 The pharmaceutical industry tends to
be the major employer of
bioinformaticians, although biotech
companies, especially those involved
personal care products, industrial
organisms and agriculture have seen
bioinformatics play a more important
role in their industry.

6. Education For good Job
• According to job listings on
CareerBuilder and Monster.Com,
many bioinformatics positions
require a Doctor of Philosophy
(Ph.D.) degree, although some may
require a master’s or a bachelor’s
degree.

7. Career Opportunities
• Below are brief descriptions of some of the areas within bioinformatics that
opportunities are arising are:
• Sequence Assembly:This involves the use of sophisticated computer-based
methods to assemble the thousands of fragments that make up the genome of
an organism.
• Genomic Sequence Analysis:This involves mapping out the regions of a
genome that code for a particular protein’s production. It also involves
mapping out areas of the gene that is clipped out or discarded. All these are
done using sophisticated software programs and results are then compared
with databases of already mapped out genes.
• Functional genomics:This is the process of determining the functions of
genes and determining whether they would suitable for drug discovery.

8. • Genotyping:This involves the discovery of disease causing genes and using that
knowledge to identifying individuals who are susceptible to such diseases.
• Proteomics: An offshoot of genomic studies, this is the study of the portion of a
genome that is expressed in particular cells.This usually involves the use of
micro-arrays (a cutting edge technology that allows the expression of level of
thousands of genes in a cell sample to be quickly determined) and the results are
entered in a database.This area is especially useful for drug and/or gene therapy.
• Pharmacogenomics: Here databases of single nucleotide polymorphisms (gene
mutations that cause particular disease states or increase/decreased sensitivity
to drugs) have an important role to play in future drug development efforts and
in the design of clinical trials.
• Database Administration: This usually involves the design and maintenance of
huge databases of genomic sequence and biochemical information.These
databases need to be constantly updated.There is also the involvement in the
development of intelligent search algorithms to search through the database
and retrieve relevant information.

9. Skills Needed
• Good communications skills. As a bioinformatics specialist, you will be
communicating complex data to people with a variety of backgrounds. It’s very
much like being a translator.You have to know the languages involved, and you
have to be an expert communicator in order to help people understand each other.
• Good teamwork skills. Bioinformatics is not for lone rangers. Researchers can
sometimes work independently, but bioinformatics is about information and
communication.You will be working on a team with people who have diverse
backgrounds and differing areas of expertise. Good teamwork skills are essential.
• The ability to multitask.You will need to be able to handle several complex tasks
at a time.This can be a high pressure job with deadlines that have to be met.The
ability to multitask will help you manage your job with less stress.
• Flexibility.You may be moved from one project to another as your skills are
needed.You may have to put aside a project you are working on to help someone
with an urgent request.You may need to stop what you are doing and explain a
computer model to a scientist. Flexibility is a key skill to have in bioinformatics.

10. • A working knowledge of biology and its applications.You don’t have to be an expert
in biology, but you do need to know what kind of information you are working with.
It is especially useful to know about molecular biology and genetics and to
understand recent genetic research.
• Proficiency in computer languages.You need to know basic programming
languages like C++, Python, R, Java, PHP, and MySQL. Most bioinformatics
programming utilizes PERL.
• Skill in data mining. Being able to extract data from multiple resources is
invaluable.
• Good data visualization skills.You’ll need to be able to take complex data and
interpret it into models and other ways that make it understandable for biologists
and other team members.
• Experience with bioinformatics tools, such as Blast, BLAT, molecular modeling,
drug design, sequence analysis algorithms and clustering tools.
• Experience in using bioinformatics resources, such as the UCSC genome browser
and Entrez.You’ll need to be familiar with the National Center for Bioinformatics
(NCBI) and the database and analysis tools available on their website.

11. Foreign Jobs WebSites
• ISCB: Job Board
• Bioinformatics.Org
• BioPlanet Jobs
• Science Careers.
• TheScienceJobs
• Sciencejobs
• helpBIOTECH
• BioSpace
• Bioinformatics.Fr
• Bioinformatics.ca

12. TheTop Bioinformatics Companies
• A list of few top bioinformatics companies are listed below:
• Abbott, accelrys, adolor, Agilent, AstraZeneca, AMGEN, Ardais, AVAKI,
Aventies, Base4, Bayer, BioDiscovery, Biosentients, Boehringer Ingelheim,
CIPHERGEN, Computercraft, CuraGen, Dupont Merck, Exelixis,
GENAISSANCE, GeneData, GenenCor, Genentech, GenSet, genzyme,
Geospiza, immunex, Incyte, Ils, Incellico, LEXICON, Lilly, MERCK,
Monsanto, neomorphic, Novartis, Novo A/S, Ocimum, Paracel, Partek,
pfizer, Roche, Schering-Plough, Strand Genomics, Synomics, 3rd
Millennium,Virtual Genetics,Wyeth, Schrodinger.

13. Jobs in Pakistan
• Mostly jobs as research assistant in
many universities in Pakistan.
• Including Quaid e Azam University
ISB, CAMB LHR, NUST ISB, UAF
FSD and many others universities
are also offering good jobs with
healthy salary.
• Future of Bioinformatics is very
hopeful in Pakistan.

14. Questions??