From Molecular Biology to Bioinformatics

Jana-Charlotte Hegenbarth
Nationality: German
Work Institution: Maastricht University, The Netherlands
Research Interest: Sequencing Techniques, Programming, Systemsbiology, Bioinformatics, Epigenetics
Favourite Animal: Dogs & Tigers

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This blog post is about me and my personal experience on my way to uncover the black box called ‘bioinformatics’ or‘computational biology’. Many molecular biology researchers retreat upon hearing these words, because it is out of their expertise and also follows other rules than traditional lab work. I experienced that myself and I was one of them, until I took the risk to explore the ‘black box’.

The Miracle © Sidney Harris

The Past 
 
Before starting this post, I would like to introduce myself and tell you a little bit about my career path: My name is Jana and I was born and raised in Germany. I started studying biosciences in Münster (Germany) directly after receiving my A-levels and with a huge interest in neurosciences. During my bachelors I soon realized that this was not the way to go for me. 
Please don’t misunderstand, I still think it is really interesting, but the flame just did not catch on. So, I had to look for another direction. I mean that is the beauty of biology, there is a huge variety of fascinating directions to go, in fact so many that sometimes you can’t decide which way to pick. The typical cross road situation where you have to choose a path and there is no mystical creature that gives you a hint on which way to go if you solve their riddle. 

​I decided to do my bachelor thesis in a group where they combined computational with ‘wet lab’ approaches in the context of evolution and biodiversity using parasitic organisms. I liked the idea of combining two fields of research, but asked to keep the bioinformatic part to a minimum, since I did not know anything about computers. [And I really mean that. I did not know ANYTHING. Shout out goes here to my friend Andreas, who almost died of laughter after seeing my laptop freezing and crashing, while trying to delete the history and cache of 12 years, because I was too afraid to do it myself.] Unfortunately, my experiments did not work, so the bioinformatic part got bigger and bigger. And telling you the 
truth: I hated it. There were times when I dreamed about throwing my laptop out of the window out of frustration. 

So, with this experience I was set to never touch a computer for informatic purposes ever again. [Never say never, eh?] Just by pure luck, I took two courses during my masters that completely changed my mind: 

1. I was working for a PhD student who at some point struggled to do a heatmap, because the statistics program she used did not provide this analysis, and therefore, she would have needed to buy a very expensive software. I remembered doing something similar for my bachelor thesis, so I looked up if it is possible and how to do it using R. In the end I was able to present her a little script that she could use to visualize all the qPCR results by just changing one line. She was super happy and amazed. In fact, so amazed that I had to organize a workshop for the institute in order to learn the basics in R. This seems like a very small and insignificant matter, but it made me realize that I have gathered knowledge that others might not have and I was able to use it to solve a little but for her quite big problem.
2. The second course was on genetics and their medical application. Guess what we had to do there; yeah, we had to do some bioinformatic analysis. Also here, I was not super enthusiastic about dealing with bioinformatics again, but funnily enough I had actually quite a blast, while my colleagues really struggled. In fact, so much fun, that I stayed in this group to do an internship and in the end also my master thesis. 

After experiencing this I realized how cool it is that with a few lines on the computer I am able to provide possible new insights in current medical research.

​The present
 
I took the risk and indulged myself further in bioinformatics. Fortunately, I had very patient and nice supervisors and slowly realized that this black box of ‘bioinformatics’ is not scary at all. Of course, it takes a little bit of effort and frustration to learn and understand the beauty of bioinformatics. Especially in these times, when with advancing  technologies the analyses of produced data become more and more relevant.
​I am not seeing myself as an expert in either field, bioinformatics nor molecular biology; I am seeing myself as the person who dared to open the door to the black box and now wants to hold it open and tear down the walls for others to see the light within. 

​Experimental vs Computational Biologist © biocomicals.com

​The Future
 
Long story short, as a scientist there should always be a conclusion at the end. So here it comes: I hope writing about my experiences will help you, whoever is reading this blog post, to develop the courage to take the risk next time you encounter a difficult situation. You never know what lies ahead and I am convinced, that even if it still might not be the right thing for you, it is still a step towards your real passion. I will not add any tacky quote like “The future is yours to make”, but more something like: Not every bad decision is a bad one.
​The second conclusion is: BIOINFORMATICS IS NOT THAT SCARY!! It might look like the matrix, but being honest here, who does not like the Matrix?!

Lastly, I would like to finish with a little riddle from one of my favorite books, which always makes me think about me and my decisions made and to make. To reveal the answer, read the titles of the paragraphs closely again.

"Drei Brüder wohnen in einem Haus, die sehen wahrhaftig verschieden aus, doch willst du sie unterscheiden, gleicht jeder den andern beiden.

Der Erste ist nicht da, der kommt erst nach Haus.
Der Zweite ist nicht da, er ging schon hinaus.
Nur der Dritte ist da, der Kleinste der drei, denn ohne ihn gäb's nicht die anderen zwei.
Und doch gibt es den Dritten, um den es sich handelt, nur, weil sich der Erste in den Zweiten verwandelt.
Denn willst du ihn anschaun, so siehst du nur wieder immer einen der anderen Brüder!

Nun sagt mir: Sind die drei vielleicht einer?
Oder sind es nur zwei?
Oder ist es gar-keiner?
Und könnt ihr mir ihre Namen nennen, so sind drei mächtige Herrscher zu erkennen.
Sie regieren gemeinsam ein großes Reich-und sind es auch selbst! Darin sind sie gleich."
​​("Momo" - Michael Ende)

“Three brothers live in one house and they look certainly different, but if you want to distinguish them, each one is like the other two.

The first one is not there, he is yet to arrive.
The second is not there, he went out already.
Only the third person is there, the smallest of the three, because without him the other two would not exist.
And yet the third person only exist when the first one transforms into the second.
Because if you want to look at him, you only see one of the other brothers!
​
Now tell me: Are the three maybe one?
Or is it just two?
Or is it none at all?​
And if you are able to give me their names, you'll see three mighty rulers.
They rule a big empire together - and are themselves! In that they are the same. "