vlbrown-mzydt

 

I was a Microbiology grad student who wanted to do a thesis project that used computer applications to biology.

I was told that computer applications to biology weren't "here yet". To this I replied, "They are in California… and England."

I was reminded that we were in Maryland.

 

I was lucky. A forward-thinking (I could just say "thinking") professor snapped me up and handed me the computer analysis portion of a project being done in her lab. I got my thesis project, my MS, and (I'm quite sure), my first job thanks to her.

That was also my first "Data Science" project.

 

Where is this leading….?

 

It's leading to an article I recently found in PLOS: Computational Biology. The abstract made me smirk a little, sigh a little, and think fondly of my thesis advisor.

 

"Computing has revolutionized the biological sciences over the past several decades, such that virtually all contemporary research in molecular biology, biochemistry, and other biosciences utilizes computer programs. …"