Which Bachelor Should I Choose For A Position In Bioinformatics?

Question

[bubblesguy]

Hello everyone

I would like to do a bachelor at the ETH in Zurich, with the prospect of working in bioinformatics (preferably in research). I'm considering two bachelors, either an interdisciplinary bachelor with a focus on biochemistry or a standard physics bachelor. you can see the respective course outline here: physics and the 1/3/5th semester and the 2/4/6th semester in biochemistry. A friend recently told me that if I was into doing a lot of computational simulations (which I am) then he would suggest doing a bachelor in physics first, in order to get a sound mathematical foundation. what would you suggest? thanks.

[Madelaine Gogol]

Make sure you get experience with programming and analyzing data, whatever your formal degree program is in...

[Ben]

If I had my time again I'd take straight Physics; anecdotally many of the most impressive Bioinformaticians I've come across have come from a Physics background

Answer 1

[Zev.Kronenberg]

Since you are starting your bachelors I would just worry about your core courses. Take Biology, Chemistry, Math and Statistics. Find the fields that best interest you. Most people change their majors several times. There are many inroads to bioinformatics. For example I was an evolutionary biologist before I started bioinformatics. As a graduate student you will need to teach yourself a new skill. Biology -> Math, Math -> Biology, Computer science -> Biology ect.

However, you must have a good footing in at least biology or mathematics.

[bubblesguy]

thanks, that sounds like the interdisciplinary bachelor would be the way to go.

Answer 2

[Istvan Albert]

I would suggest to do an internship, part time work with a life science oriented group that needs some computations/statistical work done (I guess just about all of them) and try to solve some of their problems. Often minimal coding or high school level statistics applied correctly can make huge differences. That will give you a preparation, background and credibility that may be more effective than picking one course over the other.

[João Rodrigues]

I would go with Istvan. Do an internship, or more. Try out several sub fields.

Seconds, bioinformatics is vast and only biology kinds of binds it all.. math and physics and chemistry, it all depends what you are going to do. If you go to systems biology and protein interaction networks, chemistry won't be of much use, while if you go for structural bioinformatics, maybe genetics won't be so useful. Get very solid bases in math, physics, chemistry, and biology. Usually first year undergrad levels of these are fine for a good start.

Finally, it's always easier to technically move up the ladder (math -> physics -> chemistry -> biology). Biology is mostly about reading and understanding, while all the others involve heavy calculations, theoretical background, etc, that is not so easy to learn. I'm a biochemist and I miss those solid bases sometimes..