The who, why and how of this:
An attempt to collate the latest exciting scientific breakthroughs in Bio-Informatics and Computational Biology.
Beginnings
So, The field of bioinformatics has significantly progressed from a fledgeling into a mighty bird soaring across the biological domains as it watches and gives respite to a plethora of questions that had been previously challenging with traditional wet lab techniques. When almost 16 years ago when I stepped into Biotechnology, Bioinformatics was just another subject in my lengthy university curriculum dealing with basic algorithms such as Needleman-Wunsch and programs such as NCBI’s blast were pretty much “Cutting Edge“.
As a student in India, my exposure to much more advanced research, especially to articles behind exorbitant paywalls, was out of the question. But this was the era where significant strides in sequencing methods were taking place, with the availability of methods that are now considered second-generation sequencing still in the infancy the now extinct 454 sequencers were all the craze. But, In India there weren’t many institutes where one can learn the actual experimental to analytical approaches needed for research in the field.
With the lack of this essential exposure, I chose to pursue pure molecular biology. At least we had options in reputable and semi-reputable institutes to pursue the bachelor’s thesis work in molecular biology. It was fun in its own way, the sheer thriftiness we practised especially with something as basic as agarose gels, or the every evening ritual of autoclaving equipment in EDTA solutions so as to use them for the next day has thought me the value of resources. Eventually, my journey took me to Uppsala, Sweden for a Master's in infection biology.
Choices, Choices and Choices: There was plenty of choices and opportunity in Uppsala to dabble in, this was quite unusual for an Indian student who has been mentally modelled to follow a strict curriculum and not to make risky bets in terms of career. This is also where I started to hear about RNA-Sequencing, In my third semester at the lab of Ulf Landegren I saw a sequencing machine for the first time. It was freaking cool, I am not going to lie. When the machine was doing its calibrations or running a readout the noises were really buzzing and it made me wonder when can I do that.
A few years later, I made some career choices that were wrong or not well thought through (hindsight stuff really) that put me off track from my research career to being a student. This time I picked Bioinformatics as my core study, This time it was at the University of Gothenburg.
And my Journey re-started at a different station but with a destination yet to be charted out.
Photo by Jukan Tateisi on Unsplash
1. Why this, why now?
“Enough of this saga”, I agree…
The pertinent question of this newsletter/blog is an idea to keep up with advances in the field. The availability of cheaper computing resources and significant advances in machine learning (ML) along with exciting methods such as single cell transcriptomics and genomics (I would have once said NO WAYYY that's so cool but how is it possible or you are dreaming) makes me want to share cool stuff the scientists are doing that might significantly impact the quality of life in future.
COVID-19 was one of the best examples of all the cumulative advances in various fields coming together to drive highly data-intensive research in a significantly short period of time. We have practically got a lethal respiratory virus under control. From the first genomic sequence to building a robust phylogenetic tree across its evolution I was so amazed to track the changes through Nextstrain, I can only hope for better and brighter things in future for the field and in turn for humanity.
So, In summary, it is a personal scientific blog/journal of sorts to inform and educate me and by extending it into writing to you my dear reader; I hope to illuminate the complex world of bioinformatics research in slightly straightforward terms.
2. Community and my reading family
I have always been a community-centric person, This slightly arises due to my upbringing in India. I have posted queries on building communities of bioinformaticians previously elsewhere. One of the core goals of this is to bring various competencies together in a forum such as discord, to share problems or issues one is facing and to cross-pollinate ideas. Due to the low sample size, I was limited in making that decision, But my hope is one day this will materialize.
Depending on the size of the community, I expect it to be a hub for the exchange of ideas and a place people with non-academic backgrounds can dabble in research and possibly find mentors to guide them in their ventures. But, this is an ambitious dream which I intend to make it reality when this community reaches a critical mass.
So, Kindly spread the word and let’s go on a journey together.
3. What to expect
I want to thank you that you gave me your most precious resource and for making it here. Here is what you can expect from the letter/blog.
A weekly post on cool methods in bioinformatics that have been circulating the interwebs.
A monthly summary or deep dive into the hottest article of the month or A summary of subscriber requests (So make sure you are subscribed)
Nerd Nights: Come hang out and talk about your science (Doesn’t need to be bio-informatics everyone is welcome).
Photo by Jefferson Santos on Unsplash