ISMB 2018 Student Council Keynote, Chicago, July 6, 2018

1. Eight {So Far} Things I Wish
I Had Thought About 40
Years Ago
Philip E. Bourne PhD, FACMI
Stephenson Chair of Data Science
Director, Data Science Institute
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
peb6a@virginia.edu
https://www.slideshare.net/pebourne
1
@pebourne
ISMB Student Council July 6, 2018

2. This is not a lecture it is a discussion
….
Acknowledgement:
The context for this discussion draws
from the nearly 100 x Ten Simple
Rules..
Which takes us to Take Home One &
Two
2

3. Take home one …
Science is a team sport …
Your long term success will depend as
much on the ability to build and
maintain a team as it will on your
individual accomplishments
3

4. Take home two …
• Its more …
• Collaboration
• Management skills
• Communication
• Verbal
• Written
• Administrative ability
• All impact productivity
• Grants
• Papers
• Teaching awards
• Editorial and committee work
• Etc.
4
Ten Simple Rules for Getting Ahead as a Computational Biologist in Academia. PLoS Comput Biol 7(1): e1002001.

5. Take home three …
(from Hamming)
Work on the most important
problems in your field
{as you believe they will be in years to
come}
5
Erren TC, Cullen P, Erren M, Bourne PE (2007) Ten Simple Rules for Doing Your Best Research,
According to Hamming. PLOS Comput Biol 3(10): e213
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hamming

6. What is to come can be
extrapolated from past history
6

7. The Past History of Computational
Biomedicine According to Bourne
1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020
Discipline:
Unknown Expt. Driven Emergent Over-sold A Service A Partner A Driver
The Raw Material:
Non-existent Limited /Poor More/Ontologies Big Data/Siloed Open/Integrated
Unstructured
The People:
No name Technicians Industry recognition Academics Data Scientists
Searls (ed) The Roots in Bioinformatics Series PLOS Comp Biol
7
As described to the Advisory Committee to the NIH Director

8. You are entering the field at a time
when society at large is catching up …
The good news ... Many
opportunities
The bad news ... Many opportunities
outside of biomedicice
8

9. 9
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Gray_(computer_scientist)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-
content/uploads/2009/10/Fourth_Paradigm.pdf
https://twitter.com/aip_publishing/status/
856825353645559808

10. 10

11. What of the future?
One view is the 6D’s
11

12. Digitization
Deception
Disruption
Demonetization
Dematerialization
Democratization
Time
Volume,Velocity,Variety
Digital camera invented by
Kodak but shelved
Megapixels & quality improve slowly;
Kodak slow to react
Film market collapses;
Kodak goes bankrupt
Phones replace
cameras
Instagram,
Flickr become the
value proposition
Digital media becomes bona fide
form of communication
From a presentation to the Advisory Board to the NIH Director
Example - photography
12

13. Maybe follow the emergent data
& analytics…
• A few examples:
• Imaging – biggest success in machine learning
• EHR’s – still the wild west, but becoming civilized
• Integration with environmental data
• Cancer
• Autism
• Prevention – social media
• Mental health
• Global health
• Pandemics
• Biocomplexity
13

14. Think about the technologies and how
they will change …
Will biomedical research become more
like Airbnb?
14
Should biomedical research be like Airbnb? PLOS Biol 15(4): e2001818

15. Open platforms will digitally integrate
the scholarly workflow for human
and machine analysis
Should biomedical research be Like Airbnb?
doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2001818
15

16. Take home four …
The most compelling science still
needs money
16

17. Look to what is being funded
(apologies for the US centricity)
• Moonshot – cancer
genomics
• MODs old dog; new tricks
• Human Microbiome
Project – a gut feel
• TOPMed - genotype to
phenotype
• All-of-Us – precision
medicine
• ECHO – child health and
the environment
• BRAIN - neuroscience
17

18. Take home five …
Treat others as you treat yourself
Trust me, If you don’t it will come
back to haunt you
18

19. Take home six …
Follow your heart not your brain
19http://brainwarriorswaypodcast.com/the-brain-in-love-lust-can-you-choose-your-love/

20. Take home seven …
Diversity of research is a relative term
…
Figure out where you are
comfortable on the spectrum …
More diversity means less depth
however smart you are
20

21. Take home eight …
its about balance
21
ISMB 2006
ISMB 2009

22. Discussion
•Does this resonate with you?
•What is missing from your perspective?
•What could ISCB do to help that it is
not?
22

23. References
• Russ Altman – Translational Bioinformatics Year in
Review https://www.dropbox.com/s/dtlfdfxc8rcudb1/amia-tb-review-18.pdf?dl=0
• Bourne PE (2011) Ten Simple Rules for Getting
Ahead as a Computational Biologist in Academia.
PLOS Comput Biol 7(1): e1002001
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