<p>I'm a rising junior at a top 10 school out east and I'm interested in research in systems biology. I'm currently a math major and I'm wondering what would be the best path of graduate study in order to be a researcher in systems biology. Both of my research advisors (one at my school and one at a natl. lab) have their degrees in theoretical physics and are now researchers in systems biology. Should I consider applying to graduate programs in theoretical physics or continue with mathematics...or what about graduate programs in systems biology? I think it's a bit confusing when there are so many ways to break into a field of research and I would appreciate any advice.</p>
<p>Also, my advisors went to Princeton for their graduate study -- does that necessarily make it easy for me to study there given their connections or is nothing really a lock these days?</p>
<p>it would probably be useful to you to get some bio experience-- it's not hard to learn but its easier if you come into a program with some. It would be the most useful if you could manage to do some wetlab research, that way you don't get thrown in immediately. The best systems bio programs are probably Harvard, UCSF, and Princeton QCB. If you are interested in more computational stuff, UW genome sciences is also quite good. Berkeley has a smallish core of faculty doing systems biology research, but it is more genomics-y. The definition of systems biology varies immensely by school, so it would depend on your interests. Harvard and UCSF both have mini-courses in the summer to teach computational techniques and wetlab techniques. </p>
<p>Systems biology is a new field, so when your advisers went to school there was no choice to get a phd in systems biology. It seems to me that being in the systems biology program would give you access to the professors and the community, while allowing for a lot of flexibility. The other option would also obviously be biophysics, which is slightly different but related field. </p>
<p>Connections from the faculty help a lot, but it is more in how respected they are in the field. If the people interviewing you know the PI that you are working for, then they are excited about you.</p>
<p>well i have wetlab experience working with microarrays, mass spec, and the standard molecular bio techniques. i was a bit turned off by wetlab work -- a bit too routine for me -- and now the work i do is mainly computational. thanks for the advice!</p>
<p>np- just some of the students in the program have no real knowledge of biology, and it makes the classes a bit more work than they could be. If you have computational biology knowledge along with some wet lab experience you are set. Make sure to apply to the right programs at each school-- which can be more confusing than it sounds. Also, Harvard systems is much more modeling than genomics, which is just something to be aware of. Some programs that aren't named systems biology also have lots of systems biology going on-- for instance I ended up choosing a straight biology program, even though my interests lie in systems. I would also suggest looking into berkeley MCB or biophysics. Mike Eisen just won HHMI, which should make it a very cool place. (Princeton is also awesome)</p>
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Systems biology is a new field, so when your advisers went to school there was no choice to get a phd in systems biology. It seems to me that being in the systems biology program would give you access to the professors and the community, while allowing for a lot of flexibility.
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<p>Ding ding ding, we have a winner!</p>
<p>If for some reason you don't want to get an actual systems bio degree, physics and math are both fine choices, and which would be better would depend on what specific research you want to do.</p>
<p>If you want to go into academia (which you may not), the most important thing is to get an advisor whom you work well with, and who shares your interests, because in academia in the sciences, you will be regarded as your advisor's apprentice. So you might want to do this from a different perspective - look for individuals that you could see being good advisors for you, and then find out what departments they are in.</p>
<p>for some reason, and this may be because of working almost exclusively with physicists and mathematicians, i'm a bit hesitant to have a graduate degree in biology or something similar. i like your approach with the advisors jessiehl -- seems like a good way of doing things.</p>