Bioinformatics vs. Neuroscience

[pgoyal]

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Does anyone here have experience in both bioinformatics & neuroscience?

If so, I'm interested in knowing which one would you pick (if you HAD to pick one) to pursue in terms of research/specialized knowledge. [If you have more capacity to type - perhaps a short explanation would be much appreciated]

 

[Smokemont]

Does anyone here have experience in both bioinformatics & neuroscience?

If so, I'm interested in knowing which one would you pick (if you HAD to pick one) to pursue in terms of research/specialized knowledge. [If you have more capacity to type - perhaps a short explanation would be much appreciated]

I have. Your question implies that you think these fields are independent. Bioinformatics is the use of computational methods to help make sense of biological data (such as neuroscience). You could write code and create algorithms to study theoretical neuroscience or you could collect experimental data from a lab and use computational methods to analyze that data. Data mining, pattern recognition, image analysis and many more techniques are currently being used in neuroscience. So to answer your question, I would do both. If I liked programming and writing code more I would join the bioinformatics department and collaborate with the neuroscience department. If I liked neuroscience better I would join a neuroscience grad program and collaborate with bioinformatics. Nowadays I think you would be hard pressed to find a neuroscientist that doesn't use some type of algorithm to analyze their data, whether they know it or not. Some labs use commercial software, other develop their own.

 

[Sophocles]

I have. Your question implies that you think these fields are independent. Bioinformatics is the use of computational methods to help make sense of biological data (such as neuroscience). You could write code and create algorithms to study theoretical neuroscience or you could collect experimental data from a lab and use computational methods to analyze that data. Data mining, pattern recognition, image analysis and many more techniques are currently being used in neuroscience. So to answer your question, I would do both. If I liked programming and writing code more I would join the bioinformatics department and collaborate with the neuroscience department. If I liked neuroscience better I would join a neuroscience grad program and collaborate with bioinformatics. Nowadays I think you would be hard pressed to find a neuroscientist that doesn't use some type of algorithm to analyze their data, whether they know it or not. Some labs use commercial software, other develop their own.

How much do you typically learn about biostatistics in bioinformatics degrees? I am extremely weak in stats and was wondering if it would be more beneficial to do epi, biostats, or bioinformatics. Problem being that stats, supposedly, concentrates too much on math and not on the application and epi doesn't cover enough of stats to be truly proficient. Of course, I've never done either one and don't know much-hence the reason I'm asking in the first place.