Capitalizing on New Needs and New Opportunities Government-Industry Partnerships in Biotechnology and Information Technologies (2001) / Chapter Skim
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Bioinformatics: Emerging Opportunities and Emerging Gaps
Bioinformatics: Emerging Opportunities and Emerging Gaps
Pages 244-260
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From page 244... ...
Sloan Foundation, "Hiring Patterns Experienced by Students Enrolled in Bioinformatics/Computational Biology Programs," May 1999. We have benefitted from the comments of participants at the workshop as well as those of Michael Teitelbaum, Mary Frank Fox, and Bill Amis.
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From page 245... ...
Figure 1 presents job openings in bioinformatics and computational biology by month for a twoyear period as measured by counting position announcements in Science. Given the methodology, the numbers reported are a lower bound.5 In 1996, 209 posi3see Eliot Marshall, ``Hot Property: Biologists Who compute, Science, June 21,1996, pp.173032; Eliot Marshall, ``Demand Outstrips Supply," Science, June 21,1996, pp.1731; and Diane Gershon, ``sioinformatics in a Post-genomics Age,,, Nature, Vol.389, September 25,1997, pp.417-18.
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From page 246... ...
Table 1 organizes the information in terms of type of entity placing the ad, rather than number of position announcements. Three categories are listed: firms, universities, and other not-for-profits, including government.9 We see that the number of entities placing ads grew from 70 to 118 between 1996 and 1997, representing a growth of 68 percent.
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From page 247... ...
Based on the position announcements, jobs in computational biology range from entry-level data analysts and programmers to senior-level scientists and research directorship Lower-level positions that are more directly computeroriented call for as little as an undergraduate science degree, and some state no degree requirements. The majority of positions call for a doctorate degree in either a science (preferably molecular biology)
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From page 248... ...
The head of Merck's computational biology program, for example, is a physicist. 12For an explanation of how the salary data were collected see Paula Stephan and Grant Black, "Bioinformatics: Does the U.S.
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From page 249... ...
Keck Center's 1997 Annual Report. PIPELINE Table 3 summarizes student enrollment in training programs by degree level as of March 1999.
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From page 250... ...
CIncludes counts of students in degree programs in the Department of Computer Sciences at the University of California-Davis and the University of California-Santa Cruz; there are no formal bioinformatics/computational biology programs at UC-Davis and no formal undergraduate program at UC-Santa Cruz. training programs and the number of students (86~.
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From page 251... ...
Much of this imbalance is the result of the professional structure of the life sciences research enterprise where "the important work of conducting experiments rests almost entirely on the shoulders of graduate students and postdoctral fellows." Recommendations of the committee included restraint of the rate of growth of the number of graduate students in the life sciences.l3 Is it not contradictory that the committee concluded that a "crisis of expectations exists for young life scientists" at a time when demand is strong and growing in the field of bioinformatics? Why are there but nine doctoral programs in the United States in computational biology,l4 while there are approximately 194 programs in biochemistry and molecular biology and over 100 in molecular and general genetics?
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From page 252... ...
NSF has provided training funds through its Computational Biology Activities and the Sloan and Keck foundations have targeted funds to the training of individuals in bioinformatics; non-targeted training funds have also come from NIH. While such a strategy may be best in the long run, in the short run training grant initiatives may be ignored by many faculty.
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From page 253... ...
Thus, while the practice of recruiting faculty from academe provides a ready source of knowledge, and hence spillovers from academe to industry, the practice where replacement is difficult impairs academe's capacity to continue the training initiatives it has already begun.2i The Baylor program reportedly experienced difficulty when Randall Smith left to join SmithKline, and, while the program at the University of Pennsylvania survived despite Searls' departure, the remaining faculty were stretched as a result. Second, academic departments in the life sciences are arguably not as responsive to demand driven by industry as are departments in engineering and computer sciences, which have long had a tradition of placing a sizeable number i9 See Eliot Marshall, "Demand Outstrips Supply," op.
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From page 254... ...
And, while it is viewed as both honorable and profitable for established faculty to work with industry, the profession would appear to still stigmatize the individual whose early career goal is to work in industry. The Interdisciplinary Nature of Computational Biology Creates Disincentives to the Establishment of Programs Bioinformatics requires training in computer and information science, mathematics, and the life sciences.
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From page 255... ...
The large difference between salaries in computer and information sciences and salaries in life sciHicks and J.S. Katz, "Science Policy for a Highly Collaborative Science System," Science and Public Policy, 1996, 23: 39-44; Rogers Hollingsworth, "Major Discoveries and Biomedical Research Organizations: Perspectives on Interdisciplinarity, Nurturing Leadership, and Integrated Structure and Culture," prepared exclusively for Interdisciplinarity Project and to be published in the University of Toronto Press; and J.S.
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From page 256... ...
An examination of the requirements of five highly rated biology departments demonstrates that none have formal mathematical requirements for entry into their graduate programs; only a handful of graduate courses have a mathematics prerequisite up to introductory calculus.26 It is not just that life scientists lack training in math and statistics. A credible argument can be made that the typical life scientist lacks interest and excep26The five institutions reviewed are Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and the University of California-Berkeley.
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From page 257... ...
Many of these test-takers will not receive admission into graduate programs, let alone leading programs in their intended field of study. A discussant suggested that the large differential may be due to the "Asian factor." Specifically, Asian students score extremely well on the quantitative portion of the test, and the fields of computer and information sciences and mathematical sciences attract a disproportionate number of Asian students compared to the life sciences.
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From page 258... ...
Asian population reflects test scores of Asians who are noncitizens, these numbers suggest that the lower quantitative scores in the life sciences are due at least in part to the fact that Asians students who seek out training in the life sciences have lower quantitative scores than Asian students who go into engineering or the physical sciences. The same thing can be said for whites.
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From page 259... ...
:1742. 28Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute joined the sparse ranks of institutions offering undergraduate training, starting an undergraduate degree program in bioinformatics and molecular biology in the Fall of 1998 that is funded in large part by a $1.2 million grant from Howard Hughes Medical Institute for undergraduate education in the life sciences.
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From page 260... ...
1999. "Hiring Patterns Experienced by Students Enrolled in Bionformatics/Computational Biology Programs." Report to the Alfred P
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