Hey VDB, great video as always! I’ve been wondering for a why you use “computational biology” instead of “bioinformatics” in your videos. It’s because computational biology is used to solve biological problems where as bioinformatics is for tool and database creation commonly, no? I’ve been wanting to become a computational biologist working with genetics and genomics (I’m currently doing a biomedical science bachelors). If I do a genetics PhD, can I still work on the computational side? If I do a bioinformatics masters (either the one in Lund, Sweden or Upsalla, Sweden, if you’ve heard of them), will that give me enough of a good base to work on the computational side if I decide to pursue a genetics PhD? Thanks!
Hi @petrichor1956 I generally use Computational Biology instead of Bioinformatics as more of a catch-all for the tools I cover. Bioinformatics is usually related to only sequences, protein, rna, dna, etc. Computational biology (in my view) is a more broad concept which incorporates things like phenomics, phylogenies, modeling (etc.) some of which I cover or plan to cover in the near future... so Computational Biology felt like a better name. Of course you can do a genetics PhD and do computational studies. I obtained my PhD in Genetics, working on Biofuels, then Plant Evolutionary Biology, then Space Biology. In my opinion, as long as you arm yourself with the tools (like R and Python), then the problems you tackle can change. For instance, I have done some Autism genetic modeling with a collaborator, a lot of space biology, and even metagenomics (video coming soon). In general, the PhD you obtain can give you a good foundation for addressing scientific problems, but it does not commit you to any one line of work/research. I hope this helps!
Hey VDB, great video as always!
I’ve been wondering for a why you use “computational biology” instead of “bioinformatics” in your videos. It’s because computational biology is used to solve biological problems where as bioinformatics is for tool and database creation commonly, no?
I’ve been wanting to become a computational biologist working with genetics and genomics (I’m currently doing a biomedical science bachelors).
If I do a genetics PhD, can I still work on the computational side?
If I do a bioinformatics masters (either the one in Lund, Sweden or Upsalla, Sweden, if you’ve heard of them), will that give me enough of a good base to work on the computational side if I decide to pursue a genetics PhD?
Thanks!
Hi @petrichor1956
I generally use Computational Biology instead of Bioinformatics as more of a catch-all for the tools I cover. Bioinformatics is usually related to only sequences, protein, rna, dna, etc. Computational biology (in my view) is a more broad concept which incorporates things like phenomics, phylogenies, modeling (etc.) some of which I cover or plan to cover in the near future... so Computational Biology felt like a better name.
Of course you can do a genetics PhD and do computational studies. I obtained my PhD in Genetics, working on Biofuels, then Plant Evolutionary Biology, then Space Biology. In my opinion, as long as you arm yourself with the tools (like R and Python), then the problems you tackle can change. For instance, I have done some Autism genetic modeling with a collaborator, a lot of space biology, and even metagenomics (video coming soon).
In general, the PhD you obtain can give you a good foundation for addressing scientific problems, but it does not commit you to any one line of work/research.
I hope this helps!
@@DrVDB I really appreciate you, man.
Thanks 🙏
Wish you the best 👍