How do you answer the simple question What do you do?
When the (semi-)joke Me? Oh, I’m just an eternal student!
is met with the inevitable Oh…studying what?
but Bioinformatics…and Theoretical Systems Biology…
returns a quizzical look:
(_Bio – informatics?_)
Where do I go from there?
I typically resort do – It’s like computers, but for biologists. I’m a biologist, so this year I’ve got to learn computing.
If my new acquaintance’s eyes have not yet glazed over, and they want to know what you can do with bio-, bio-, bio-what-was-it-you-said-again?, my favourite example is
You know those whizzy 3D pictures you see of proteins, or viruses, or molecules, sometimes on the news, or in the paper?
(For an example, see the ‘cool bit’ on Stephen’s video)
Figuring out what those structures look like, from what we know about proteins, now that is a classic problem in bioinformatics.
I’m not sure that this doesn’t leave some people with the impression that I’m some kind of graphic designer.
But other summaries of what bioinformatics is, or what bioinformaticians do, don’t seem to get it right either.
We deal with big biological data sets.
We use computers to study biological problems.
Perhaps it will be easier to explain (although perhaps harder) once I am working on a project, not preparing (or trying to prepare) assignments in Java or Python.
Or perhaps I should adopt the strategy favoured by him indoors.
I just say I’m a pilot.
You make a very good point Erika. This sort of question has often tripped me up. I do think it’s worth making some effort to think it through beforehand so that you are ready when asked. I guess bioinformatics poses particular challenges but you have to find a way to key it in to what people know.
There could be a blogging meme in this…
I think you’re getting close with the visual metaphors. From a popularization perspective, disciplines like ecology or geology have always scored because even if you don’t understand the technical nuances, there’s always
pet pornpictures of cuddly animals or scenery to fall back on.Ecology is very much the study of complex systems. Most ecologists (and evolutionary biologists) haven’t realised this yet though, but as soon as they think of their question of interest beyond the confines of their study species, it might become more clear.
And from the descriptions above, I’m beginning to wonder if I’m a bioinformaticist as well. I use computers to investigate complex biological problems. And infect other people’s blogs.
It’s true that visual metaphors help – during my undergraduate degree (which was biochemistry) if I mentioned that I had run ‘those stripy gels – like you see in CSI’ at least most people had a visual handle on what I did all day.
But I don’t think they will feel the same if I do a quick sketch of an algorithm.
It’s true that genetics interests me more than protein structure prediction. Perhaps with Darwin Year, I can borrow his sketch of an evolutionary tree.
Hurray! The excuse I needed to buy some Darwin Year Gear !
My current explanation of crystallography involves:
Right hand: a protein
“undergoing a reaction”
Left hand covers right hand: stops the reaction
We need to know the shape of the protein to stop the reaction.