Molecular Sciences - Biomedical, Biochemistry etc.

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I was just wondering if anyone here is interested in any Molecular Sciences. I am starting my first year at University in September to study BSc Biomedical Sciences.

I noticed that this section only contains maths, physics and computational threads...

Yes, I certainly love biomedical and molecular sciences! The only thing in the real world that makes sense, at least for me.

Is your interest in these sciences genuine and you are planning a career as a scientific researcher? I do not know if you are on the spectrum or not, but biomedical research (or any research) is nearly the perfect occupation for people who have autistic traits. Myself I work with biomedical and pharmacological research (although I'm still in grad school so I do not have a PhD yet) and I find it perfect for me. I have Asperger's syndrome and I may be considered low functioning in the real life, but it seems that I have an ability to understand molecular and biological sciences at a relatively high level.

What is your specific area of interest in biomedical sciences?

My interest is mainly focused on neurobiology and mechanisms on molecular level. E.g. how compounds interact with receptors. Although currently I have been working with bioinformatics and molecular genetics. But I think everything is connected or at least related to each other, so I love almost everything that is related to biology, biochemistry, molecular genetics and pharmacology.

Thank you for replying!

With regards to a career, I'm rather confused. My interests/obsessions change every so often; it's changed from Computers, Army, Doctor, Teaching... Likewise, my degree has changed several times too. I originally applied to study Biomedical Sciences in 2011, with my A-levels being Biology, Chemistry and Maths, and I really liked Biology and Chemistry at the time. Then in year 13, I lost interest in those and became obsessed with Maths, and decided to reject all of my University offers and go through Clearing to study Mathematics. I have just finished my first year in Mathematics, however I've now changed back to Biomedical Sciences again, which I will be starting in September. Despite everything that you've just read, my ultimate degree would be in German, however I didn't take it at A-level because I thought that my last GCSE exam went badly and that I wouldn't get an A; I did get an A but it was too late to change course then, so a degree in German isn't possible at the moment. In the future however, I will obtain a degree in German through the Open University, and I will be fluent.

But back to Biomedical Sciences. In BS, I am interested in Neurobiology and Biochemistry. For some reason, my brain can process Biochemistry easily - I found memorising the processes of Photosynthesis and Respiration incredibly easy after learning it once. I think having long words helps - I've always enjoyed memorising long words, and the fact that it's a step-by-step process.

I'm currently doing an honours thesis in the field of conservation genetics, which is sort of molecular biology What I'm actually doing is processing blood and tissue samples of a species of shorebird so I can look at their mitochondrial DNA and try to figure out which breeding sites they all come from. It's all very interesting (to me, at least). After this I'm crossing my fingers that I find a good advisor to do a Masters with, with the ultimate goal of staying in academia (and out of the corporate world) forever.

Neuroscience looks like such a cool field. My uni only has one course in it and I could never make it fit in my schedule.

I can't imagine changing Majors like that so often. I went back and forth between Biology, Psychology and Computer Science when I was picking majors in grade 12, but once I decided on biology I told myself that I was going to stick with it no matter what. I did end up taking Comp. Sci. as a second major in my second year but I'm going into the fifth and final year of my undergrad and I'm still happy with biology. So far so good

I guess that's exactly what I'm doing.

I did change my major too from maths and computer science to pharmacology and neuroscience. And then I decided that I should combine them and focus on bioinformatics (which is basicly biology + computer science). At first it looked quite far away from my original major, but then I discovered how pharmacology can be combined with bioinformatics by using the new technology that is available (e.g. protechemometrics).


Those are not really that far from each other. Being in the academic world means that you may need to teach. A doctor doesn't have to work with patients (there are many doctors who work in the same reseach facilities doing the similar research as biologists). Everything can also be combined with computer science. And you can choose neuroscience as your specific area in biology even if you are a doctor, biomedicinal scientist or biologist.

My advice is to find a specific project/subject you are interested of and forget the scientific field. Decide what aspects of that project/subject you want to study and that will most likely automaticly lead to a specific scientific area. (But maybe this is not particularly helpful if you don't know what you want to study or work with. I apologize for this, but this is a method I use when I decide what I want to do.)

For example I am interested of GABAergic systems (among other things). It doesn't matter for me if I use bioinformatics to study their genetics or if I want to use biological wet lab techniques to study drug-receptor interactions. Or if I want to study the signal transmission by using a neurobiological approach. Or simply write review articles or lectures. I'm sure many people find this approach unnecessary complicated or confusing, but I believe it's necessary to master a broad range of scientific tools.



Is that some sort of phylogenetical study?

True. I'm really confused atm :S. All I know is that I have to study BSc Biomedical Sciences for the next 3 years as I have no more years extra with Student Finance, and I can't really afford to change course again. It doesn't matter if my interests change, I'll just have to stick with it.

With regards to my degree, this year I have to study 4 core modules; I don't get the choice. They are Chemistry for Life Scientists, Biochemistry, Genetics & Microbiology, and Cell Biology & Physiology. In my 2nd and 3rd years, I will have a lot more choice.

I was wondering, how does your Asperger's affect your learning at University (if at all)? If so, how do they affect you and how have you overcome this? Also, do you have any revision techniques/working techniques? I personally find exam time really stressful, as I have so much to revise and I become really overwhelmed by the amount of work to do - this makes revising hard, which can sometimes make me panic, which makes me stop revising, which makes me panic even more - I guess you could call this positive feedback. It's horrible, and I really don't want this to happen again next year...

Neat! I've been looking at bioinformatics stuff, since it's the only field I've heard of that uses both. Did you go on to graduate school? If so, how did you go about applying/finding an advisor?



Exactly! I have two advisors, one of whom actually works with these birds (Purple Sandpipers). They've been unable to track migration patterns using traditional methods (banding, gps, etc) because it's almost impossible to catch the same bird at both a nesting site (scattered throughout the Canadian and European arctic) and a wintering site (can be down as far as mid-US/ southern Europe). People are looking at launching conservation programs because the number of Purple Sandpipers (and many other shorebirds) has been declining, but nobody knows just which populations are having trouble. Maybe they all are, or maybe it's just birds that winter along the NA eastern shore, or have nesting sites in Nunavut. If I can come up with evidence that different nesting sites have distinct genetic 'fingerprints' that'll be the first step towards finally understanding which nesting sites are connecting with which wintering sites.



I'm not diagnosed, so maybe my advice isn't relevant. But here it is. My biggest problem in university is staying on top of homework and studying in between classes and not getting sidetracked by my current interests. I've done last minute scrambles to finish assignments more than once because I just kept putting them off, and I know that's probably affected my GPA.

As far as exams go, I almost never look back over my answers when I'm done the exam. I do circle questions I'm not sure about and come back to them before I finish. That's about the time I start mentally adding up the value of all the questions I think I got right and guessing at what my mark would be if I just stopped there - and deciding how many of the remaining questions I can afford to not care about. What kind of questions do you tend to panic over the most? Could you give an example?

It's fine, I'm not diagnosed either! . Yeah, staying on top of homework and studying is hard - not just because of other intersts, but when I have a lot of work to do, I find it too daunting and overwhelmed, so I do the complete opposite to what's practical and put it off. Then when it's time to do it, I panic lol. Really not productive. Thankfully, it doesn't happen all the time, but way too often than it should!

I do exactly the same in exams - read the question and circle the ones that I need to come back to so that I don't waste time, then go back to them at the end, but still only answer the one's that I can straight away. I then look at how much time I've got, and then add up marks that I'm certain are right, and answer the questions that I need to out of the ones left, based on time and marks in order to obtain the most marks.

Erm, application of knowledge I find hard. I tend to memorise things, and that might mean that I don't 'completely understand what I've learnt' according to some teachers, which means that when I have an unfamiliar question where I have to 'apply the knowledge that I have to answer the question', I don't always know where to start, and struggle. Also ironically, despite being good at maths, I find maths in any subject other than maths hard :S.

Haha. Same here, even though I know that the best way to avoid being overwhelmed is to start early, and I promise myself at the start of every year that I will stay on top of things. And then I can't start new assignments because I'm still trying to finish the ones that are almost late. It's a vicious cycle. I think a lot of students do this, though.



Great minds think alike

Hmm, that is a problem. I'm actually the opposite. I find I'm only really good at remembering concepts, so in order to remember something at all I have to grasp the concept behind it. So I struggle most on questions that ask for details, vocabulary and rote stuff. More than once I've made a note on a question to the effect of 'I know that this is what it does, but I have no clue what it's called or when it was invented.'

Do you have anyone in your classes who you're comfortable studying with? It might help to have them ask application questions beforehand, so you can practice.

Yes I'm very interested in biochemistry. As my username sort of implies, I especially have an interest in structural biology (the field that deals with the structures of large biological molecules like proteins and RNA). In fact I just finished checking the new structures that were published today (they're updated online every Tuesday) before coming here...

Some aspies I've run into strongly dislike the more intuitive, approximate nature of biology and chemistry as opposed to something like math or pure physics. While in principle all of chemistry is really applied quantum mechanics, no organic chemist or biochemist goes through his or her day thinking of it this way. Mostly rules of thumb are applied to determine how likely something is to react a certain way, and then approximate quantum calculations are used in a small handful of cases to justify particularly ambiguous results. I, for one, love this way of thinking, because it provides hope of systemizing the natural world without losing sight of its beauty and "fluidness".

Water based life is mostly sticky goo.

ruveyn

...and the non-sticky-goo part is pretty much entirely composed of lichens. Isn't it wonderful?

Yes, I did continue to graduate school. Applying is often very simple, the hard part is of course to get in. You need to be able to write a good application letter and often even a short research proposal. Take this application seriously! It's not something you write in few days. I did write my applications at least 4-5 months. So you need to be able to write excellent english and present your persona, your carreer goals, your motivation and why you are interested of a particular scientific area. This task may sound easy but in reality it may be extremely hard. At leas it was for me.

It will also be important have research experience from projects during your undergraduate years. Summer projects are often the best way to do this because you won't be missing any classes or course work. Most universities have regular research courses that can be taken by the students. That way your project will be a bit more organized compared to "freelance" or extern projects, and you will get credits. The problem may be that you won't have time because the projects will overlap with your regular course work. Thus you may want to talk/contact/sent emails to the professors or deparments and simply informally ask for the job. You may get rejected very often but it is possible to get "hired" into projects. I did two summer projects and some minor projects during the semester before graduate school.

Some grad schools actually demand that you have 2-3 projects before the application. But I guess bachelors/masters thesis will count. An important part will be getting 2-3 good references persons (professors, teachers or your mentors during your projects). Their letters will be important in the application.

The hardest part in the application is to find the best department and the university that suits you best. No, getting rejections is actually the hardest part.

I don't think finding advisors is too hard. What I did was focusing on the research that I was interested of. I simply tried to get in the departments and research teams who worked with the same science as I did. Then I tried to choose the person who I respected most and who had the best research opportunities for me. I'm not very social person so for me it was important to find the best research team. I guess there may be a lot deeper discussion behind choosing the advisor, but I don't know much about that. For me it was more important to find a good project and team. I didn't really choose the advisor as a "person". Most of the time it's easy to choose the advisor. There are not too many higher ranks in the departments (at least not in here). And you often know those persons from the classes (if they teach).

I see, thank you! Most of the advice I've gotten around the department says to pick your advisor before you pick your school, talk to their current graduate students to make sure they're a good match for you, and then apply to the school with them backing you. I've been focusing on people working with things I have an interest in, but there's just so much out there and I'm not entirely sure what I want to do yet. I have not looked into writing an application letter, but I'll definitely check to see whether the schools around here want one.

My university has a cooperative education program that gives you three 4 month work placements in your major, so I think I'm good on the project front. And I'm like you in that I'm not very social - I always feel like everyone else has way more connections than me and I'm behind. It's early days yet, though, so wish me luck!

Yes, that seems to be a good way to do it, but it's really difficult to do that. Especially if you are applying to schools that are far away. And for me it seems weird to base your education around one person. But maybe I had it easy because I applied to the same university where I did my bachelors and masters, so I knew most of the departments and professors.
Positions for Phd students are usually announced like regular jobs, so you will be applying directly to a certain team or even to a certain project. I don't really understand why picking a certain advisor is always recommended. I would say choosing the field is more important, but it may be different for you, so I should not try to affect your decision.

I think a lot of the people that advocate checking the advisor out had bad experiences with their own advisors - because clashed or the advisor just wasn't easy to get along with, or there was some other drama. I mean, you'd pick out people who are doing stuff that interests you. But before applying you'd sent a email to one of their current students to ask what it's like to work under them. I've heard more than one horror story about <insert person here>'s master's thesis. Since I'm the type to avoid drama at all costs this makes a certain amount of sense to me. If I ended up with someone I hated for 2+ years, I can't say I'd fare well. And then last week I was having lunch at the same time as this older student who told me about the state of funding in Canada nowadays (read: not good), and he said if he went back to do it again he'd make sure to pick someone who's sure to get a lot of money. (Me: x.x)

Oh,if I stayed at my current university for my master's I know the people I'd want to work with. But my university is very, very small (~3,000 students) so there aren't many master's positions available. Mostly professors will hire undergrads for honours work or research-based courses.

Yeah, I've seen little notices on professors' websites that say they're looking for masters/PhD students.