Non-wetlab research

[markovchn123]

Okay So i'm in a bit of a unique situation because most of my research as an undergrad the past year has been computational in nature, and I switched from wet lab to this because I did not like wetlab work as much. I am also doing computational research in the summer at an REU. Now this research is biological but do MD/PhD programs look at this type of research as worth less than wet lab experience? I really want to do a PhD in computational biology but is this something that is difficult to do with an MD/PhD program?

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[eteshoe]

No more difficult than most biological PhDs. I know a couple of MD/PhD students doing a more computational bio project and they seem to be doing fine. Bioinformatics is a growing field and quite a few programs are open to training physician scientists who can be successful in the changing climate of the biological sciences and medicine (i.e. some of that big data)

 

[Lucca]

I do a mix of computational and wet lab science and have been for all of undergrad. I think the more important thing is finding a niche for your field within medicine and having a reason to want to combine both medicine and research. Doing both is difficult enough, I get this feeling that they want to be sure that the training you get as a scientist has the most potential to carry over into your physician years and beyond, at the very least intellectually.

The good news is that computation will probably be bread and butter for all scientists in the future across all fields.

 

[soporific]

Often a computational PhD can be done faster too.

 

[carpediem22]

There were a handful of comp bio people on the interview trail this year.

 

[xc_stallion92]

I interviewed with a ton of bioinformatics and computational bio people this year. It seems to be extremely prevalent.

 

[markovchn123]

Thanks you for the great responses guys I appreciate my mind being put at ease

 

[globe199]

I'm an MSTP student in the middle of doing my PhD in computational biology. I was in a wet lab for all of undergrad, but switched to doing all computational work in graduate school. I never want to go back to doing wet lab work again! My intention to do this type of switch was well-received during interviews - just make sure you can articulate what you want to do well (and obviously don't be outwardly dismissive to working in a wet lab).