it is wrong to say that wet lab researchers do not appreciate bioinformaticians..It is the important part of life science research these days..i do not now where from you go this idea?..if you have good knowledge of whatever you learned, then everybody in life science field will be interested in listening you...When you go for a phd interview ..i do not thik they really look for some special skills..any kind of skill with you is an added advantage..when i joined phd i had no knowledge of structural biology ..but now i am slowly learning..phd is a learning curve ..and whatever you learned before phd is always an added advantage...

it is wrong to say that wet lab researchers do not appreciate bioinformaticians..It is the important part of life science research these days..i do not now where from you go this idea?..if you have good knowledge of whatever you learned, then everybody in life science field will be interested in listening you...When you go for a phd interview ..i do not thik they really look for some special skills..any kind of skill with you is an added advantage..when i joined phd i had no knowledge of structural biology ..but now i am slowly learning..phd is a learning curve ..and whatever you learned before phd is always an added advantage...

Bioinformatians are becoming increasingly important and valued within universities and research institutes, especially in the 'omics' fields, ie. genomics and proteomics etc. I think there are two factors here for you. 1. choose the right school - make sure they are doing research using techniques that require computational analysis beyond that of 'normal' people, e.g., next generation sequencing, or mass-spec. These sort of places appreciate in silico researchers, even wet-lab personnel like myself. 2. Make sure YOU have the right skill set that will work for the school and the techniques they use. Understand the TYPE of analyses they are doing or might want to do, and have a look at the kinds of programming languages that might be useful.

There are places, like where I am at, that are gagging for more Bioinformatitions. It is already starting, but won't be long before everyone requires a bioinformation within their lab or school, and granting agencies are starting to acknowledge this by beginning to fund these positions. However, you need to be proactive in making yourself attractive to a school as I am sure there will be a lot of competition before long.

Good luck!

Steve

Yes, choosng the right place/school/uni is the most important factor. I also agree with Ashmit as I also have personally seen and fell victim to bioinformaticians being treated as "newbies" to science. Although this factor is now vanishing ( I am referring to my local environment/region) but I remember how people used to think that bioinformatics means a person who is for typing, fixing windows etc haha. Even today, if one submit their pure in silico work regardless of interesting findings to those journals which heavily emphasize on experimental validations, their reviewers tend to reject articles with point that, although study being interesting and have potential, it lacks experimental data" so, Stephen is right that one must choose proper place that match with your interests either its experimental or computational or both :)

Mr. Azeem i am just scared to listen what you said, i had some idea but you are experienced...i am undergrad in bioinformatics from the same institution and about to complete my degree within a year...i found it interesting and have many dreams about my degree and future..but do you think now it has scope more than a lecturer or just a teacher(in our region as you know)??? because now i am concern about MS that either i should change the field(as you did ) or continue this...

Madiha Bioinformatics is making its place in Pakistan also.There were many hurdles for pioneers of Bioinformatics here but now it seemed to be decreasing. Be focused on your interest.even if u change your field yet you can continue Bioinformatics. It will benefit you at any part of your project. You must be careful while choosing subjects for MS.

Ahan ok Ayesha...thanks:)

May I also ask you guys a question?

Would you be able to give me few words how a bioinformatician be useful in a clinical hospital which only doing clinical diagnostics without using a kind of bioinformatics stuffs? if you were an employee there, what idea would you bring up to integrate your science with them and make a new things there?

hope you understand me and provide me with enough information.

Regards

Hezha

Bioinformatics research also involves databases designing, implementation and data mining. Both these areas can be successfully incorporated into clinical area.

Thanks for all. but here is the issue, if I am more biologist and less computer guy then how can you do database and things related successfully? that would be hard. so I might need look around of another option. perhaps Data Analysis might work somehow to be useful for clinic but even that one can be done through experiment and they don't need us to.

If a bioinformatics person was to work with me (and I should say that our groupo recently hored one person with such skills), he should show willingness to acquire new expertises on the wet-lab since this is required for sucessfully integrate into in silico work. You shouldn't be static, and having more skills other than your main area is a plus. Even working on RNOmics, a substantial partb of the work is bioinformatics, but one has to look at RNA and the biological system and understand what is that all about. Just bioinformatics is short.

For short, I would hire a person that wants to learn new things, and that he/she is on the top 15% of all applicants. In an interview, be objective, know what you are talking about (do your home work and learn about the research topic). Let the future employer know that you are in science for a graeter good and not for the money or carrear.

Good luck

Someone else might have given this same advice, but I strongly suggest to all my students that they look into all the activities of the lab(s) of interest at the grad school to which you apply. Go into the interview with a full understanding of the current research happening in the prospective major professor's lab, including who is doing that work (post docs, other grad students, etc) . The more you know, the better. Eyes wide open. Also, if your interests or research direction are complementary (not a duplication) to their research, they will likely be more interested in what you can offer!

Quite true!