Forum:If I want to learn bioinformatics as a computer scientist, would it help to learn Data science and Machine Learning first?

Question

[bianca.iii99]

To be more specific, I would like to write my undergraduate thesis on bioinformatics as a Computer Science student, but I'm feeling overwhelmed by all these books focusing on biology aspects.

I find a few books which discuss computational algorithms extensively, but unfortunately, they weren't very beginner-friendly. Bioinformatics online courses are even scarcer.

Given these facts, I have two questions:

1. Do you think it would be a good idea to enroll in some Data Science and Machine Learning courses first? I know there are plenty of resources for these and I think about learning some general techniques, only then applying them to the bioinformatics field.

2. Is there a problem if I prefer to write the code in a specific programming language (most often Python) instead of pseudocode?

Answer 1

[ATpoint]

Get a supervisor. This is nothing you can do all by yourself and nothing strangers on the internet should advise you on. Many threads on this already, please use the search function.

Answer 2

[Devon Ryan]

1. No, if the biology side of things is unfamiliar then you need some biology classes. Bioinformatics is a mixture of biology, statistics and CS. You need at least a passing familiarity with 2 of those.
2. You'd need to ask whoever is in charge of approving theses.

As ATpoint mentioned, an advisor of some sort is invaluable at this point in your education.