Hi All,
I am planning to do a Master in Bioinformatics with a focus on developing an algorithm and later a software.
My problem is I have no clue what project to propose. I want it to be something that is not too hard and something that allows me to publish at least one paper. Of course, it is better that my algorithm/software is needed and has practicality for scientists but this is my third goal.
A bit on my background: I have a degree in biotechnology and have little experience working with bioinformatics softwares. I do not have a university degree in programming (hence my goal to have a not too hard project) but I have been learning algorithms and data structures and python for a few weeks and I have almost 3 months time to start my Master, which I will use to practice my programming skills.
Thank you :)
Should this not be something you decide after consulting with your Master's thesis mentor? I assume you will need to have one.
Good luck! You may need it.
It should. But I also like to get advice from more people. I'm sure there is no harm in that.
My Master supervisor is kind enough to give me the freedom to figure out my project myself first.
Thanks
Honestly. It is a very bad idea to start with 'I want to at least publish one paper'. You don't even have a topic yet. And you have no idea if you results of that unknown topic are any good! Have you ever published a paper? It is not that easy!
So, focus on getting your thesis done. Give your best to make it good. If everything works out, you can start to think about maybe publishing something later on, but seriously do not start with the goal of publishing papers if you don't even know what you are going to work on.
Well, you might have gotten that wrong as well. Yes it seems kind to let you figure out your project yourself. but on the other hand, that again is just hard to do! You have little experience with bioinformatics. Obviously you don't have an idea for a project, that is why you ask us (which is understandable because it's not that easy!) Yet you want to find a project yourself that at least allows you ti publish one paper..... and in addition it should not be too hard.... well, Do you understand why me as well an genomax and I guess many others .... well are very sceptical here?
You want to develop an algorithm, software and it should be good enough for at least one paper. How much time to do plan to spend on your master thesis? And please, don't tell me know it should be about 3 months or something link that.
Perhaps it's a bit of a catch-22 situation. You want an easy project or your want a publication. You cannot have your cake and eat it too. But being ambitious is fine. Just expect to get crushed by reality.
Hello WouterDeCoster,
Very correct point. I am ambitious. At the risk of seeming arrogant, I had zero background in biology when I started studying biotechnology in university and my level of chemistry was not very good because in high school my major was maths and physics. Yet, I graduated from a world top 50 university with equally good results as my classmates who had in depth background in biology and chemistry. Part of it is because I am ambitious as you noticed and another part is because I am very hard working and self driven. My professor tells me he has never seen someone as self driven as me :) And yes, I've been crashed so badly by reality many times but because I liked learning about genetics and genomics a lot, I could manage to move on. As I mentioned in my previous comment, I published a paper in American Society for Microbiology and my project was not difficult. It was all about bioinformatics and took me 4 o 5 months to finish it. I didn't have any background in bioinformatics but my supervisor helped me a lot. So thankfully had my cake and I ate it too ;) I'm hoping to do the same for my thesis.
Impressive, good luck!
Dear LLTommy,
Thanks for your message and your concern :)
I already have one publication in a good journal and it was on bioinformatics. The project was not so difficult and it took me 4 to 5 months to finish it; hence I don't think it is hard topics necessarily that result in a publication. Of course I got so much help from my supervisor.
Of course, I will do my best but I know certain topics have higher probability of having good results and a publication because there is so much information on them available or that they are simply not so difficult. This was the case with my previous project. I don't understand why some think it is the difficult ones that get you a publication.
What I am asking is what are the topics that I should explore, which are not so difficult. I think there are a few answers to that. If you have any I highly appreciate if you could share with me.
Cheers