4 ms·

Let's say you're a tech expert, how do you get involved with the biotech revolution. Is there any resources to learn what is currently available, how you can c

by nscalf 7y ago

Let's say you're a tech expert, how do you get involved with the biotech revolution. Is there any resources to learn what is currently available, how you can contribute, etc? I think this field will likely yield some of the most impactful tools and innovations we've ever seen.

madhadron 7y ago
This is something I have dealt with a few times. There really isn't a good resource to point someone from a math, informatics, physics, etc. to so they can get an understanding of how the field works. People end up recommending books like Alberts or other things that provide lots of pictures and names in a particular, small area of biology but don't give any idea of what the field covers or what thought processes work in it. The closest thing I have is twenty-ish pages of notes I braindumped for a colleague who had just entered bioinformatics from computer science, but those already assumed lots of conversations and information already in place. It's made even weirder because biology is three fields inextricably intertwined (genetics, physiology, natural history). For each one you can start at the beginning, but how do you provide some kind of linear path through all three at once?
- haihaibye 7y ago
  With age and humility has your view of the field tempered with time from "Fuck you, bioinformatics. Eat shit and die."[1]? I totally get your point, and it maddens me daily but I take the interesting + meaningful work/money tradeoff and enjoy being one of the best coders in a building (much harder in pure tech) [1] http://madhadron.com/posts/2012-03-26-a-farewell-to-bioinformatics.html http://madhadron.com/posts/2012-03-26-a-farewell-to-bioinfor...
  - madhadron 7y ago
    Oh boy, that rant. Doubtless the most far reaching and influential thing I have ever written. It gets assigned in bioinformatics classes around the world, which puzzles me in the extreme, and I get emails every couple of months from new readers of it asking my position. My usual response these days is that if it's raising red flags for them, they should explore what troubles them until they have satisfied themselves rather than taking the word of some random guy on the Internet. From here inside my head, I think my criticisms are still accurate, nor have I seen any actual refutation of them. Lots of ad hominems. Many people not understanding that terms like "computationally difficult" are precise terms of art, and have nothing to do with intellectual or conceptual difficulty. With age and humility and, more importantly, absence, my attitude is probably better described as "meh."
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
haihaibye 7y ago
Programming challenges (like project Euler) going through classic bioinformatics problems with a bit of bio background: http://rosalind.info/problems/list-view/ http://rosalind.info/problems/list-view/ Biology for computer scientists: https://wwcohen.github.io/GuideToBiology-sampleChapter-release1.4.pdf https://wwcohen.github.io/GuideToBiology-sampleChapter-relea...

by nscalf 7y ago

madhadron 7y ago

This is something I have dealt with a few times. There really isn't a good resource to point someone from a math, informatics, physics, etc. to so they can get an understanding of how the field works. People end up recommending books like Alberts or other things that provide lots of pictures and names in a particular, small area of biology but don't give any idea of what the field covers or what thought processes work in it. The closest thing I have is twenty-ish pages of notes I braindumped for a colleague who had just entered bioinformatics from computer science, but those already assumed lots of conversations and information already in place. It's made even weirder because biology is three fields inextricably intertwined (genetics, physiology, natural history). For each one you can start at the beginning, but how do you provide some kind of linear path through all three at once?

haihaibye 7y ago
With age and humility has your view of the field tempered with time from "Fuck you, bioinformatics. Eat shit and die."[1]? I totally get your point, and it maddens me daily but I take the interesting + meaningful work/money tradeoff and enjoy being one of the best coders in a building (much harder in pure tech) [1] http://madhadron.com/posts/2012-03-26-a-farewell-to-bioinformatics.html http://madhadron.com/posts/2012-03-26-a-farewell-to-bioinfor...
- madhadron 7y ago
  Oh boy, that rant. Doubtless the most far reaching and influential thing I have ever written. It gets assigned in bioinformatics classes around the world, which puzzles me in the extreme, and I get emails every couple of months from new readers of it asking my position. My usual response these days is that if it's raising red flags for them, they should explore what troubles them until they have satisfied themselves rather than taking the word of some random guy on the Internet. From here inside my head, I think my criticisms are still accurate, nor have I seen any actual refutation of them. Lots of ad hominems. Many people not understanding that terms like "computationally difficult" are precise terms of art, and have nothing to do with intellectual or conceptual difficulty. With age and humility and, more importantly, absence, my attitude is probably better described as "meh."
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]

haihaibye 7y ago

Programming challenges (like project Euler) going through classic bioinformatics problems with a bit of bio background: http://rosalind.info/problems/list-view/ http://rosalind.info/problems/list-view/ Biology for computer scientists: https://wwcohen.github.io/GuideToBiology-sampleChapter-release1.4.pdf https://wwcohen.github.io/GuideToBiology-sampleChapter-relea...