As Genomics Grows, Future For Bioinformatics Is Bright

Combine the explosion of genetic information fostered by the Human Genome Project (HGP) with huge advances in computer technology, and the result is the relatively young field of bioinformatics. The news is good for those seeking work in this burgeoning area: Bioinformaticians anticipate plenty of job openings. Loosely defined, bioinformatics is the management and analysis of biological information contained in databases. An example of such information is the genetic sequencing being generated by HGP. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, seeking ways to take advantage of the new data, are hiring people who are able to manage and interpret the information. And many observers predict that as industrial demand grows, academia will respond in kind with more training programs, which will create even more jobs. Bioinformatics has its roots in computational biology, a field whose practitioners use computers to develop models of such structures as proteins and genes. A close cousin of bioinformatics is medical informatics, which is used by physicians to manage and analyze clinical information contained in databases. GIVING RISE: Penn's Chris Overton links the ascent of bioinformatics with the advent of the Human Genome Project. "The rise in computational biology during the last 15 years or so has been driven largely by the vast amounts of DNA sequence data that have been generated and deposited in the public-domain databases," explains Chris Overton, director of the University of Pennsylvania's new Center for Bioinformatics. "What has given rise to the field of computational biology known as bioinformatics is the [Human] Genome Project. . . . Genomics and bioinformatics are very closely linked." Because of the huge expanse of HGP-a 15-year, $3 billion, international effort to identify the entire complement of human genes-many observers predict a rosy future for bioinformatics. "I see an explosion of opportunities," declares David Eisenberg, director of the University of California, Los Angeles-United States Department of Energy's Laboratory of Structural Biology and Molecular Medicine. "The sequencing of genomics is producing an unexpected flood of information that's beginning to be analyzed and fit into coherent biological and biochemical patterns." OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS: Pharmaceutical researcher Maria Betty wants to make the jump to the growing field. Maria Betty hopes Eisenberg is right. A senior scientist at a major pharmaceutical company, she is attempting to make the transition into bioinformatics, and she suspects she's not alone. "There [are] a lot of people like me, I think, who are microbiologists looking to move away from the bench and see this as a very attractive career opportunity." To make this transition, Betty is attending bioinformatics conferences and participating in bioinformatics projects at work. In addition, she has culled information on the field from other sources and used it to launch her own World Wide Web page (http://www.bioplanet.com). "There's quite a lot of need at the moment in the scientific community for people who understand the tool but aren't heavyweight computer people. . . . I find already I'm getting lots of requests for help." As more researchers who lack computer backgrounds start working on genomics projects, "there's going to be a lot of outreach needed," she adds. "And that's the kind of role I'm hoping to fill." David Whyte, an assistant principal scientist in the tumor biology department at the Schering-Plough Research Institute in Kenilworth, N.J., often uses databases in his research. He calls bioinformatics "a tool to be used by biologists to further their particular research, just as molecular biology has become." Those with a background in computer science may find "new positions for managing large relational databases of sequences and for developing the software to make sense of all the information," Whyte predicts. Much of the rise of bioinformatics can be attributed to technological advances that have helped put stronger, faster, and easier-to-use computers on most researchers' desktops, according to Stanley R. Krystek, Jr., a senior research investigator at Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute in Princeton, N.J. In addition, the World Wide Web offers instant access to genomic databases from all over the world, he notes. 'SEA CHANGE': Investigators are no longer confined to examining one gene at a time, observes NCI's John Weinstein. Concurrent with the rise in computing capabilities has been the emergence of genomics as a scientific discipline. John N. Weinstein, a senior research investigator in the Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology at the National Cancer Institute, describes a "sea change" in biology in which investigators are no longer confined to examining one gene at a time. Now, he says, "it's come into the mainstream that one can generate [lots] of information about very large numbers of genes and gene products." Managing these vast data streams to find genuinely useful information is the key to developing new drugs, he continues. "There's very often a certain leap of faith, especially in the pharmaceutical industry, that if one can construct a database-hopefully a pertinent and high-quality one-information will pop out of it; or at least that it can be interrogated in a useful and productive way. I share that belief and the enthusiasm that goes with it, but there are lots of questions remaining to be answered," such as how best to use the databases. Still, "we're not depending on any particular insight or particular biological hypothesis," Weinstein points out. "In a sense, the field is based on a hypothesis about information rather than about the specifics of the biology. That's a sounder basis for enthusiasm than any particular biological hypothesis." BOOM: UCLA’s David Eisenberg predicts "an explosion of opportunities in bioinformatics." Most observers of the field contend that academia has failed to keep up with the demand for trained bioinformaticians. Formal academic training structures are few, thus few academic jobs are available. The reason, according to UCLA's Eisenberg, is that "it takes a while to produce well-trained people in a given area. Bioinformatics and genomics [are] so new that courses are just being developed, and the first students who have done their theses in this area are just beginning to emerge." In addition, the field is a hodgepodge of disciplines, encompassing people with backgrounds in biology, computer science, and statistics. This works to job-seekers' advantage. "Right now you can graduate with a Ph.D. or an M.S. in biochemical sciences or molecular biology, and if you have computer experience-not even substantial experience-you can bill yourself as a bioinformatics expert," Krystek notes. "You can start without doing a postdoc, probably equivalent to someone with three to five years' industry experience." The significant industrial demand for bioinformatics professionals is perhaps most pronounced among biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, which are constantly seeking new and better targets for genetic remedies and drug delivery. "Industry is taking anyone they can get and offering a lot of money, because [academic] training programs are not turning out the students they need," states Russ B. Altman, an assistant professor of medicine and computer science at Stanford University and head of the school's bioinformatics program. INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH: Stanford’s Russ Altman says that industry needs people who can manage biological databases. Penn's Overton contends that the diversity of disciplines encompassed by bioinformatics is one of the field's primary strengths. "Industry right now has an enormous demand for people who have the diverse skill set needed in bioinformatics. The requirements are for people who have substantial training on the computer science side [and] are well-grounded in biology. There is a particularly big demand for people who can communicate with both biologists and computer scientists," he states. "These people are simply few and far between." Eisenberg believes job opportunities will continue to appear for the foreseeable future but declines to speculate beyond five years or so. However, he says: "There's always room at the top for people who are very good at what they do. [People who are] very highly skilled and knowledgeable are certain to get good positions." Altman observes that while bioinformatics has its supporters in academia, few departments are devoted to it. Unless academics can find a "visionary chairman or a dean" willing to begin a program in a field as new as bioinformatics, career opportunities are scarce. The outlook is different in industry, he says. The graduating Ph.D. in bioinformatics "would have multiple offers from pharmaceutical companies and small biotech startups. That's what I'm seeing now." Both industry and academia have reason to hire trained bioinformatics professionals, he adds. "The genome sequencing projects are creating incredible amounts of sequential data. . . . Because of that, people in academia who are developing this data need ways to manage it and pick out the pearls. In industry, people may have jewels in their database, [and] whoever gets this information under control first wins." Indications are that the tide is turning in academia. For example, in addition to opening its Center for Bioinformatics, Penn uses a National Science Foundation research-training grant for doctoral and postdoctoral students in computational biology. This fall, it will offer what school officials call the first master's program in bioinformatics, as well as an undergraduate degree in the field. The programs are interdisciplinary, drawing on faculty members in the university's schools of medicine, arts and sciences, and engineering and applied sciences. It seems clear that new training programs will develop, and most involved feel the sky's the limit. "It would be a great field to get into if I were a youngster," Eisenberg muses. He adds that, judging by his students, the people with the most opportunities will be those who have spent time in front of both a monitor and a microscope: "I think it's important for people entering the field to have both computational and experimental experience. That seems to help." "The cool thing about this field is it's really evolved into its own," Krystek states. "Evolution of the science means the need for Ph.D.'s in this field is going to be formalized." Before that happens, however, "most of the scientists moving into this field will be cross-trained. . . . It's as important to be a computer science major as it is to be a molecular biologist." Whyte believes researchers do not need to become bioinformaticians to enjoy the field's benefits. "Becoming proficient at bioinformatics increases the opportunities available to life scientists, whatever their particular interest," he offers. "You will be better equipped to ask novel questions in your research, whatever your area of interest, if you can effectively use the rapidly expanding genomics databases." How long can the predicted positive hiring trend last? Altman points out that there are long-term goals that will require lots of time to reach, such as the development of computational models of a complete cell, an entire organ, and even a human. This would allow "virtual" tests of drugs to be conducted-tests "in silico," as Altman calls them. "That goal is not a 10-year goal. That is a 50-year goal. In my lifetime this field has plenty to do, and probably in my kids' lifetime. . . . The effects of things like the Human Genome Project on medicine in the next 50 years are going to be significant, and someone needs to be keeping track of that." Weinstein predicts that hiring trends will go through a series of ups and downs. "The roller-coaster car is going up at the moment. I'm sure there will be disappointment when all of the problems we'd like to see solved aren't immediately answered by this approach." However, Weinstein believes that any disappointment will be followed by successes. "One of the reasons I'm more enthusiastic about this field than anything I've done before is that it is so fundamentally open-ended. There are so many ways in which it can be fruitful."

As Genomics Grows, Future For Bioinformatics Is Bright

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