Hello my name is Vanessa Natasha
MISSION *I am more interested as to why things are the way they are, for example why did this genetic code express something different from what it normally codes for or why is stochasticity used to elaborate cancer or apart from changes in the genetic drift of the microorganism what else could lead to the organism being resistant to the said antibiotics. From this my mission is to be at the forefront of drug prediction, drug discovery and having a full grasp on the relationship between the effects of drugs on genetic expression through computational tools.
VISION My vision is to combine computational skills and biological knowledge for the purpose of experimental immunology.That at the end of this internship I will have the right skill set to come up with new hypothesis related to immune responses and drug discovery and construct different algorithms for the specific hypotheses.From this be able to analyze data generated from the hypothesis and make sense of their implication. I want to be able to pursue immunoinformatics and do research on drug prediction
WHY BIOINFORMATICS
WHAT TRIGGERED MY INTEREST
Having done a Bsc in Biotechnology wet-lab was compulsory, so tissue culture, DNA extraction and amplification skills and gel electrophoresis were skills that were highlighted throughout the four years. But I would always wonder what next, will my research always be limitted to the lab, on the number of samples i extracted DNA from or was there more? I wanted something that even after extraction and sequencing could offer me the ability to analyze, form new research questions and draw conclusions from my data. Bioinformatics didnt limit my research it gave me the ability to progress on my research question past the lab.
WHY BIOINFORMATICS
Because bioinformatics allows me to answer foundational questions in biology. I would like to answer why to most research questions and to understand pharmocogenomics in a much broader perspective. This i can accomplish by combining genetic data and immunological data and tailor them to understand any relationship that might be as result of the other.Bioinformatics offers me an interdisciplinary approach to all things molecular. I want to be a wholesome scientist in that I can actually do the lab work but most importantly test my hypothesis in-silico. That before I do PCR in the lab i can actually design and optmize my primers in-silico. The options of bioinformatics are limtless this is why I chose bioinformatics because i can solve problems that haven't been considered in the wet-lab or rather have been limitted in the wet-lab. More to this I think partly because bioinformatics is not monotonous you get innovative ways to solve different biological problems wih very unique tools and algorithims.
SHORT TERM VISION or GOAL
I have a handle on wet-lab skills since i have done alot of practicals in the lab, my challenge is coding. I dont have alot of practice in this area and thus this is very limiting. I can come up with great research questions on various research projects the only challenge is that i would have a vague idea on the data analysis tools I would need to use to answer the questions. Hence a short term vision of mine is to be profecient in coding and data analysis. That when i have a research idea I could actualize a specific methodology on how to meet the various objectives. Because I have taken some coding classes, i have some basics on coding, but I need the coding that I learn to be tailored on how to handle and analyze biological data.
LONG TERM VISION OR GOAL
My longterm goal is to use bioinformatics for machine learning, drug design and drug prediction. I hope that i will be well vast in coding so as to come up with algorithims tailored for specific research questions .
My vision is to combine computational skills and biological knowledge for the purpose of experimental immunology.That at the end of this internship I will have the right skill set to come up with new hypothesis related to immune responses and drug discovery .From this be able to analyze data generated from the hypothesis and make sense of their implication
- FIRST MILESTONE- 2022 To be vast in data analysis skills and basic coding skills needed for immunological analysis. To accomplish this first milestone I did some beginner coding in R and python to have an idea on coding I also got a bioinformatics internship at ICIPE which I am hoping will catapult my coding and data analysis skills. Some of the activites that I will do to enable me accomplish this milestone;-
- Be active in coding projects
- Test out the accuracy of my codes by asking my supervisors to verify and assist where necessarry
- Working in colaboration with like minded individuals to learn from them
- Take part in any necessary coding classes
GOAL A
- Understand different analysis tools, their uses, principles and limitations
- Understand LINUX and the UNIX command line
- Understand GIT and how to use effortlessly and effectively
- Python and R proficiency
- SECOND MILESTONE-2023 Pursue an Msc in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology.Bioinformatics because I want to have a full grasp of biological data analysis and computational biology for the purpose of developing models and algorithims that can be used on different immunological hypotheses.
Below is a link to my daily journal during my internship
https://mbbu-icipe.slack.com/archives/D03P2GPV6BE/p1658141857388929