Bioinformatics Career Prospects

CAREER GUIDE
CAREER PROSPECTS IN BIOINFORMATICS
— DR. K. JEYAPRAKASHBioinformatics or computational biology is the use of information technology in the field of molecular biology, or the application of computer technology to the management and analysis of biological data. Here computers are used to gather, analyze and merge biological data. It is an emerging interdisciplinary research area and is increasingly being used to improve the quality of life.The ultimate goal of bioinformatics is to uncover the wealth of biological information hidden in the mass of sequence, structure, literature and other biological data and obtain a clearer insight into the fundamental biology of organisms and to use this information to enhance the standard of life for mankind.Bioinformatics could have profound impact on human health, agriculture, the environment, energy and biotechnology to advance biomedical research and development. It is being used now in the areas of molecular medicine to help produce better and more customized medicines to prevent or cure diseases, it has environmental benefit in identifying waste cleanup bacteria and in agriculture it can be used for producing high yield lows maintenance crops.The career prospects in the field has been steadily increasing with more and more use of information technology in the field of molecular biology. Job prospects are in all sectors of biotechnology, pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences, in research institutions, hospital and industry. Some of the specific career areas that fall within the scope of bioinformatics include sequence assembly, database design and maintenance, sequence analysis, proteomics (the study of protein, particularly their structure , functions), pharmacogenomics, pharmacology, clinical pharmacologist, informatics developer, computational chemist, bioanalytics and analytics etc.Eligibility and method of selection A course in bioinformatics is suitable for those with a graduation or post graduation in molecular biology, genetics, microbiology, chemistry, pharmacy, veterinary sciences, physics, mathematics, and also engineers, it professionals, phds. Programs at different levels are available in the field such as b.tech, master degree, advanced diploma and m.tech. Study of bioinformatics begins at the undergraduate level. The basic educational qualification to enter program in bioinformatics is 10 + 2 completed with science as the subject. The details of the educational qualification for different courses in this field are listed below.Name of the course educational qualifications required B.tech in bioinformatics candidate should complete 10 + 2 with physics, chemistry, biology and English.M.sc degree in candidate should complete theirBioinformatics graduation in any of the following subjects such as b.sc/ b.sc (agriculture)/bcs/be/b.tech/ mbbs / b.pharm/bhms/bvscAdvanced diploma in candidate having a post graduation inBioinformatics any of the following subjects such as m.sc in life sciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics, biotechnology, biophysics, botany, zoology, biochemistry, microbiology, pharmacology, computer sciences, m.sc (agriculture) or m.tech or mbbs are eligible for advanced diploma coursesM.tech in bioinformatics pharmacy graduate , medical , dental and veterinary sciences, graduates as well as post graduates in science are eligible for the admission to m.tech programme Other than this eligibility for the course in bioinformatics in different colleges varies with the universities.Skills needed: The current trend in seeking potential employees seems to be looking for those that have firstly been trained in the biological sciences and have acquired computational skills. However, there is room for those with an it background with strong interest and knowledge in the biological sciences, especially molecular biology.Job prospects:The career prospects in bioinformatics has been steadily increasing with more and more use of information technology in the field of molecular biology. Job prospects are in all sectors of biotechnology, pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences, in research institutions, hospital and industry.Some of the specific career areas that fall within the scope of bioinformatics include sequence assembly, database design and maintenance, sequence analysis, proteomics (study of protein, particularly their structures and functions), pharmacogenomics, pharmacology, clinical pharmacologist, informatics developer, computational chemist, bio-analytics and analytics etc.The work involved in the specific career areas are drug design utilizing 3 –d structure modeling and computational chemistry (cheminformatics), comparing genetic data between and within species ( genomics). Genomic analysis is an attempt to find drug targets (pharmacogenomics), characterization of proteins and their interactions (proteomics), prediction of the function of genes and proteins based on sequence and structural data etc.Bioinformatics has also many broad areas for career movement. Some of these are include bioinformatician, biomedical computer scientist, geneticist, computational biologist, biostatistician etc.Institutes offering bioinformatics courses:
post graduate joining a private sector pharmaceutical company can expect to get a salary in the range of rs 12,000 to rs 20,000 per month. Those employed in government research can start on rs 12, 000 along with government allowances and benefits. There is also a great demand for bionformatics in foreign countries.ConclusionThe bioinformatics jobs market has changed considerablyin the past few years and can be attributed to a number of factors, mainly the increase in the number of bioinformatics academic programmes, leading to an increase in the number of graduates chasing jobs, the steady decrease in the rate of increase of bioinformatics jobs and the almostflattening of the amount of investments in the biotechnology sector.(The author is a asst professor, school of biotechnology, karunya university, coimbatore – 641114. Tamil nadu, e-mail – jeypee5@ rediffmail.com)