Bioinformatics Archives - Page 3 of 4 - Northeastern University College of Science

If Jared Auclair has his way, his lab at Northeastern University will help ensure that the U.S. is never again caught off guard by an emerging pathogen like COVID-19.

Auclair, technical supervisor of the university’s Life Sciences Testing Center, and his team are working with the Boston biotech company Ginkgo Bioworks to develop a system to test samples collected at airports and other places of entry to the country for monkeypox.

The process is serving as a test case for a partnership that could result in Northeastern University playing an important role in national biosurveillance and biosecurity programs, Auclair says.

“We’re thinking about a national infrastructure of response to future pathogens. We’re really thinking of what is entering the country and how we can monitor it,” he says.

“One of the most important parts of surveillance is response time,” Auclair says.

“If we see a report of a pathogen starting to come through the country like we saw with COVID in Seattle or monkeypox overseas, how quickly can we respond?”

In the case of monkeypox, the answer is two weeks.

Q: Why did you decide to enroll at Northeastern University to pursue this degree?

I experienced my undergraduate degree at Northeastern, and I wanted to stay if possible. I knew that I enjoyed programming and data science, and I wanted to study this as it pertained to biology, so I chose bioinformatics.

Q: What has been your favorite part?

I’ve enjoyed being a teaching assistant (TA). I love programming, and I’ve found that finding other people’s coding mistakes has made me better. I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed my machine learning class; the material was so fascinating that I decided I wanted to pursue a PhD to perform research involving machine learning.

Q: Are there any particular faculty or resources that have helped you succeed in this program?

My new advisor Tricia has been excellent! I also thought the lectures given by Professor Chesley Leslin and Professor Amin Assareh have been highly informative and interesting. I’ve also had the privilege of working with some very helpful TAs (especially Zanetta and Ashwini!)

Q: What are your post-graduation plans?

I plan to pursue a PhD in computer science and do research involving the use of machine learning in preventative health studies.

Q: What advice do you have for students in similar fields?

The best advice is to pursue what part of the field interests you the most. The people I know who enjoy the program the most are the ones who choose the concentration (or set of electives) that best caters to their skills and interests. Also, attend office hours! As a TA, I can confirm that the students who attend office hours and ask questions tend to be the most successful in their courses.

Learn more about our graduate programs and student experiences here.

Have you thought about pursuing a Master’s degree? Did you know that Northeastern has programs that allow you to start a Master’s degree while still pursuing your undergraduate degree? Our PlusOne programs allow you to count up to 16 eligible undergraduate credits toward a Master’s degree. This amounts to a 50% discount on graduate tuition. Come find out how to take advantage of this great opportunity on Monday, April 25th from 5:00-6:00pm EDT. We will be highlighting Master’s programs in Biotechnology, Bioinformatics, Applied Math, and Environmental Science & Policy.
Join us for a panel with:
Dr. Kevin Broadbelt, Director and Professor, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics Program
Dr. He Wang, Director and Professor, Applied Math Program
Alex Susienka, Co-op Coordinator, COS Graduate Pro

Have you thought about pursuing a Master’s degree? Did you know that Northeastern has programs that allow you to start a Master’s degree while still pursuing your undergraduate degree? Our PlusOne programs allow you to count up to 16 eligible undergraduate credits toward a Master’s degree. This comes out to a 50% savings on graduate tuition. Come find out how to take advantage of this great opportunity on Wednesday, April 20th from noon to 1:00 pm EDT. We will be highlighting Master’s programs in Biotechnology, Bioinformatics, Applied Math, and Environmental Science & Policy.

Join us for a panel with:

Dr. Benjamin Dittbrenner, Director and Professor, Environmental Science & Policy Program

Christa Dhimo, MBA, Professor of the Practice and Enterprise Concentration Lead, Biotechnology

Ai Ra shares their Northeastern experience in the Master of Science in Bioinformatics program, one of our professional master’s program offerings.

Q: Why did you decide to enroll at Northeastern University and pursue this degree?

As I was finishing my Master of Music degree and the COVID-19 pandemic began, I was looking for a way to further my education and career in STEM. I found the field of bioinformatics by chance, but it felt like something I’ve needed to do my entire life. I’ve always been curious about genetics, cancer, rare diseases, and gene-based therapies, so discovering this field was fascinating.

The program at Northeastern was among others I applied to, but the one I wanted to attend the most because of the co-op program. No other degree I saw had built-in career experience before graduating.

Q: What has been your experience in this program so far?

Shifting from music back to STEM has been an enormous challenge and was made even more challenging by the bulk of my degree being online. This semester has been primarily on-ground, and I am thankful for that.

Q: What has been your favorite part?

My favorite part has probably been working as a teaching assistant for the professional development for co-op class. Doing this has allowed me to further my professional skills while interacting with and helping my colleagues.

Q: Are there any particular faculty or resources that have helped you succeed in this program?

Stefan Kaluziak and Alex Susienka have been integral to my experience here at the College of Science.

Kaluziak has served as a tremendous mentor, providing advice on what skills I can cultivate to further my career, delivering job search guidance, and sharing general life advice for being a bioinformatician.

Susienka has made himself an unlimited resource of ways to practice and improve professionalism, providing support at every good and bad moment while I’ve been here, and allowing me to grow into a young professional.

Q: What do you believe to be the biggest strength of the Bioinformatics program?

The biggest strength of this program is the co-op opportunities. This kind of career experience leads to potential employment in ways other programs cannot compete.

Q: Tell us about your co-op experiences. How have these informed you on what you plan to do in the future?

I experienced co-op at a big pharma company called Abbvie. There were both ups and downs to this experience, the least enjoyable being that it was primarily remote due to the state of the pandemic at the time. Despite this, my co-op at Abbvie allowed me to work on programming with real-life experimental data, learn new skills, and interact with professionals with different levels of expertise from me.

In addition, this co-op revealed to me the things that I want from my future employment and things I would like to avoid. I also acquired a new mentor at Abbvie who became very invested in my career growth and integral to obtaining a full-time position before graduation.

Q: What skills from the Bioinformatics program have helped during co-op or will in your career?

Of course, the most valuable skills I have gained from the program have been my programming skills. Before enrollment, I had nearly no programming experience.

Q: What are your post-graduation plans?

I have been very fortunate to have secured a full-time position at NYU Langone Health, acting as the Bioinformatics Analyst for their Translational Immunology Center. I thank Northeastern for this opportunity, but especially my College of Science mentors Kaluziak, Susienka, and Jesus Paez-Cortez of Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

Q: What advice do you have for students in similar fields?

My advice is to practice, know your worth, and connect with everyone you meet as much as possible. When I say practice, I mean practice your coding skills. Almost everyone in this program is new to programming, and the only way to improve is to practice. Being down on yourself and writing yourself off as “not good at programming” will only harm you. Instead, focus on what you are good at and try to improve every time you put your hands on the keyboard.

Knowing your worth means understanding that – you are in high demand as a graduate of Northeastern’s Bioinformatics program. Do not settle for any job offer that is not exactly what you want. Finally, it would help if you connected with others. Since I connected with my teachers and mentors, I could secure a job before graduation and believe I deserve it!

Learn more about our graduate programs and student experiences here.

Barbara Pierre received her MEd in Higher Education and Student Affairs from Salem State University. She manages a large and diverse caseload on the Graduate Co-op team, supporting programs from Nanomedicine to Bioinformatics. Providing teaching and advising support with a focus on international students, her work emphasizes intentional, adaptable programming that fosters engagement and belonging through initiatives like Facetime with Faculty and Global Conversations—promoting community, professional growth, and public speaking skills across a diverse student population.

As the world scrambles to make sense of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus, Northeastern is ready to spot it if it enters our community.

Northeastern’s COVID-19 testing laboratory can already detect the omicron variant through existing protocols. And that could save the university community precious time in identifying and responding to any threat the variant might pose.

We take a more targeted approach, which gives us a head start,” says Jared Auclair, who runs Northeastern’s COVID-19 testing facility, the Life Sciences Testing Center in Burlington, Mass. “We have a test in line that really helps us identify these variants. We, as a university, did the right thing and continue to do the right thing to be able to track these things, so the population should feel confident that they are still safe