Career Spotlight

Systems Biology, Science of the 21st Century

On Aug. 19 to 23, the international systems biology community converged on Toronto for the 13th International Conference on Systems Biology (ICSB).

Considered the main event for systems biology scientists, the event included more than 20 parallel sessions involving invited chairs and numerous presentations selected from the abstracts of meeting participants. Speakers delivered scientifi c presentations on topics such as chemical biology, protein pathway engineering, metabolomics, next generational sequencing, plant sciences, gene modelling and others.

In addition to the science component, other extra-curricular activities were planned including a number of musical events, a conference dinner at Toronto Brick Works and an optional trip to Niagara Falls on the last day.

Laboratory Focus was in attendance for the second and third days of the event. Day two opened at the Carlu, featuring lectures from major players in the fi eld, including George Church, a worldrenowned professor of genetics from Harvard Medical School and founder of the Personal Genome Project (PGP). Church spoke about next-generation sequencing technology, as well as advancements in reading and writing genomes, and his goal to sequence all “omes,” not just genomes.

Day three kicked off with the Society honouring David Botstein of Princeton University with the Keynote and Excellence in Quantitative Biology Education Award. A pioneer in modern human genetics, Botstein is known for his role in the Human Genome Project and for devising microarrays to exploit genome information. He was given the award for these accomplishments and for creating an intergrated science teaching program at Princeton in the fi eld of systems biololgy.

Botstein described systems biology as the science of the 21st century. “This is a community unlike most other scientifi c disciplines that is not stagnant, it is growing, pushing the envelope with new exciting technologies.”

He also spoke glowingly about the Donnelly Centre, and conference presidents Brenda Andrews and Charlie Boone as well as conference organizer Cynthia Colby.

“People like Brenda, Charlie and others at the Donnelly Centre, they are probably the leading group in the world in this kind of work, especially for yeast. There aren’t many sectors of science where Canada is a leading player, but this is certainly one.”

The mandate of the Donnelly Centre is to stimulate new interactions at the interface of biology, chemistry, engineering and computer science in order to develop and apply new technologies for approaching the most challenging biological problems in the postgenomic era. Not surprisingly, the Centre has rapidly become recognized as a premier international centre for post-genome biology and has solidifi ed Canada’s reputation as a leader in genomic research. The success of the Centre is evident through its ability to compete on the international scene and for being at the forefront in organizing an event such as this one.

CAREER SPOTLIGHT

Bio-economy Career Profi le

Compiled by BioTalent Canada

Position: Senior Geological Data Analyst Name: Jeff Kenwood Company: acQuire Technology Solutions Ltd. Salary Range: Not provided

What I do:

I work for acQuire Technology Solutions in Calgary as a Senior Geological Data Analyst, assisting mining and exploration companies with their geological data needs. The organization has grown rapidly and operates from fi ve locations around the world including Australia, Chile, Canada and the UK. Specifi cally, we provide data solutions for mining and exploration companies, assisting them with storing and retrieving database information. My role is to provide custom solutions while acting as interface between the client and software. I have three main responsibilities: providing ongoing technical support; upgrades and solutions for new and existing clients in collecting, retrieving, and storing data; and training clients onsite at the mining operation or the annual training retreat. Travel is a large part of the job, however, it is company policy that no one spends more than 100 days a year out of the offi ce. This is an attempt to ensure staff does not burn out on the job. Recently, I traveled to mine sites in Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and Ontario.

What education and skills do candidates need for this position?

You would have to be interested in technical training, and working and interacting with people. You must also be willing to travel. I would encourage someone starting out to take as many computer-related courses as they can at a technical college or university. My company is willing to train people who have the right mix of personal and technical skills. There are numerous personal and technical skills required for this position, however, there are many intangibles as well. You need to be able to work independently and in a team, when required, and to provide technical and creative solutions for clients. As well, you need to be analytical for this position and be able to work with people on many levels, including training. Overall, a Geological Data Analyst needs to have incredible attention to detail.

What are the best parts of your job?

The best thing about my job is the company I work for and the corporate culture. Companies in the mining industry tend to be “old school” in the way they deal with personnel, so it is important for a company to truly care about its employees and then illustrate it in the company policies.

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