Saturday, April 07, 2001

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Conference WEB01: Workshop on Education in Bioinformatics 2001
"In response to the worldwide shortage of trained bioinformaticians, several universities and institutes have spearheaded Bioinformatics teaching and research. This workshop will bring together Bioinformatics educators for the first time to meet, discuss and exchange ideas and suggestions. WEB01 will address fundamental issues that will determine the nature, extent, content and delivery tools available for Bioinformatics programs embarked upon, as well as provide valuable lessons for focus and improvement of nascent Bioinformatics programs.

Besides oral presentation sessions, the workshop will feature a tutorial on how to set up a Bioinformatics teaching program."

redux [09.01.00]
Science : NextWave Bioinformatics Feature
[requires paid registration]
"Since Next Wave last covered bioinformatics, in our July 1996 Profiles of Bioinformaticians and February 1997 Bioinformatics Skills features, the prominence of the bioinformatician's role in modern biology has only increased. This month, Next Wave provides a comprehensive picture of the current state of bioinformatics, from the funding situation in Europe and the U.S. to the new bioinformatics degree programs and the immediate hiring needs of industrial and academic labs around the world.”

redux [06.27.00]
The Boston Globe Bioinformatics : In the spotlight
"A fast-growing field known as bioinformatics uses computing to analyze the vast amount of biological, genomic, and related research to make sense of things too complex for the human brain to fathom.

But bioinformatics is also a bottleneck for many drug and biotech companies that can't find enough talented software engineers who combine sophisticated analysis tools with an understanding of genomics.

''We resolve the bioinformatics issue [by hiring] two people: one who understands computer science and the biologist or researcher,'' said Kenneth Fasman, vice president and global head of informatics of AstraZeneca LLC in Waltham."

"...according to Dr. Donald Johnson, a pathologist at the Nebraska University Medical Center. He estimated there are about 60,000 jobs available to scientists and managers versed in bioinformatics."

redux [05.10.00]
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Hiring Patterns Experienced by Students Enrolled in Bioinformatics/Computational Biology Programs
"As expected, salaries for the most part climb as the level of training rises, starting in the $40,000-$50,000 range for BAs and reaching over $100,000 for one post doc. But there are exceptions. For example, two of the three undergraduates who were placed received salaries between $50,0000 to $60,000. This is higher than that earned by seven of the masters students, although ten of the nineteen masters students for whom we have salary information earn more than $60,000. One masters student received a starting salary of over $100,000. Reported salaries for five hires at the doctorate level are over $70,000. One is between $80,000 to $90,000; another is over $100,000; yet another is between $60,000 to $70,000. Three post docs received placements with a salary between $80,000 to $90,000. One post doc was placed at a salary of over $100,000. One institution reported that one or more masters student(s) received a signing bonus."

"The results of our current survey make it clear that the majority of these jobs are not being filled by graduates of formal programs—who by our count represent about 15 percent of the positions advertised in 1997. And, we believe the 15 percent figure to be an overestimate given that ads have been growing over time and our most recent ad count is for 1997, a year earlier than our hiring data. This leads us to infer that most of the advertised positions are being filled by individuals trained in informal programs and by individuals who change jobs. The distinct possibility exists that a number of these jobs remain vacant for a period of time, an issue not studied here. Furthermore, our pipeline estimates (see Table 2) lead us to conclude that the number of individuals currently enrolled in formal programs falls far short of the number of positions that have recently been advertised."