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Bioinformatics-Employment Opportunities Career Outlook Bioinformatics now looks like a hot cake. Prognosis..Good, very good in U.S.A alone. The number of jobs advertised for bioinformatics in Science magazine from 1996 to 1997 increased by 96% bioinformatics job advertisements. Masters students salaries range between $40,000 to $65,000 for persons with top masters training. In addition, Masters students reportedly have received hiring bonuses and relocation assitance. Of course you are ultimately responsible for landing a great job and withour your effort nothing will be accomplished. Enormous volume of data has been generataed and will be generated in the post genomic era through research including genomics, proteomics, structural biology and dynamics of macromolecular assemblies. All these information will be help better understanding of biology and of disease and an improved ability to design targeted drugs. But manipulation and interpretation of these data demand a lot of skilled personnel The need for bioinformatician to make use of these data is well known among the industrialists and academicaians in the area. Demand of these trained and skilled personnel, which has opened up a new carrier option as bioinformaticians, is high in academic institution and in the bioindustries. This demand will clearly become exacerbated with advances in genomics and post genomic research. This skill gap is highly visible around the world. The carrier in bioinformatics is divided into two parts-developing software and using it. Most of the bioinformatics companies mostly prefer persons from physics, maths or computer science background rather than biologists-turned programmers. Otherwise, it will create isolated groups that have little interaction with molecular biologists and biochemists which will ultimately fail to achieve promise of better understanding of biology and diseases can be restored. The solution is to the problem of either by identify science and biology, which will be difficult or to create inerdisciplinary teams, which is much more realsitic approach. The other way to tackle this imbalance is to include training in bioinformatics in all undergraduate biology courses. People working in this field must have knowledge in more than one field-molecualr biology, mathematics, statistics and computer science and some elements of machine learning. Graduate Employment Opportunities: There is a growing need nationally and internationally for bioinformticians, specially graduates with a good grounding in computer science and software engineering, and an appreciation of the biological aspects of the problems to be solved. The activities of such individuals will include working closely with bioinformticians with a background in the biological and biophysical/biochemical science to:
Such individuals will gain employment in national and private research centres such as the European Bioinformatics Institue (EBI) at Hinxton Cambridge, and the European Media Lab, academic institutions (eg. the Laboratory for Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge) as well as in pharmaceutical companies (both multinational, for example GlaxoWellcome, smithkline, Astro Zencia, Roche etc, and small but influential companies, for example InPharmatica). Furthermore, there is a growing demand for graduates with software engineering and distributed systems skills to develop and maintain the powerful and sophisticated computer systems that support research, development and production activites in bioinformtics. There is a heavy use of internet and intranet technology within the sector in order to manage the storage, analysis and retrieval of biodata whose attributes are
Career Outlook in India IDC expects IT spending in biosciences in India will cross $138 million by 2005, mainly in the areas of system clusters, storage, application software, and services. Also the governments life science focus provides a great deal of the necessary backbone to develop and deliver innovative products and technologies. This focus will also helps to build fast-growing and lucrative enterprises, attract international investment, and create additional high-value employment opportunities. Employment Opportunities in India: There will be 10% annual growth in the Bioinformtics market for years to come; and the National Science Foundation estimated that 20,000 new jobs in the field would be created in the field in just the next four years. The market for bioinformatics-based services and databases, experts say, could well surpass $2 billion in a couple of years, though a large part of the global bioinformtics market is centred around the US. Significanlty, the growing interest in bioinformatics, industry watchers say, may even lead to an acute shortage of experts in this segment worldwide, which perhaps also explains the poaching that organisations like CCMB are having to face. Eight of the dozen-and-odd scientists at the premier biotechnology research body have left for greener pastures forcing it to go on a recruitment drive. Unable to hold on to experts,co's should make these positions attractive in India. This is not surprising given that the going proce for a bioinformatics expert with one year experience in the country from the private sector is anything upwards of Rs 50,000 a month. Experts say that the manpower cost of a bioinformatics unit ranges in the region of 50%, while licensing third party databases may account for roughly 25-30% of total operating costs. With its strengths in mathematics, computing and physics and chemistry, the country is positioned ideally to emerge a frontrunner in bioinformatcs. The need for new algorithms and new software tools places India in an advantageous position. The Future of Bioinformatics Professionals: In USA, Europe or now in India also if you ask anyone about job prospects in the world of bioinformatics, young scientists will give the same answer. The field is hot!, It is far from being overpopulated and the number of jobs is growing further. Some of the biggest drug firms like SmithKline Beecham, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Glaxo Wellcome are hunting for bioinformatics experts while smaller firms have difficulties to get the staffers they want. While traditional scientific job markets are shrinking, here might be the opportunity many young scientists are looking for. Bioinformatics Jobs Check out the available jobs at these search engines. Just type in the keyword bioinformatics .
For more bioinformatics career information, visit the Science Magazine Next Wave site
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