1
$\begingroup$

I am a beginner level programmer preparing for the interview in medical research company. Job sounds damn interesting and I would like to get there. To show my skills and interest, I want to write a program related to the topic.

I think, statistical analysis is quite used in that field, isn't it? What would you suggest, as idea for demo program? Calculation of basic statistical parameters of input data?

UPDATE: @chl: my background: beginner Silverlight programmer, with basic (college) level of statistics; my intentions: small application, that shows I know Silverlight & I have interest in medical research

@onestop: company's area of activity: research in proteins, metabolics, central nervous system; job specification: I have just basic requirements, and there is Silverlight knowledge listed

$\endgroup$
2
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I don't think there's a single best answer, so this has probably to be made CW. Moreover, I think you need to clarify what you intend to do, and what's your background. $\endgroup$
    – chl
    Dec 29, 2010 at 18:52
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Not sure this is answerable without a bit more info on the company's area(s) of activity and the job specification. 'Medical research' and 'programmer' are a bit vague. $\endgroup$
    – onestop
    Dec 29, 2010 at 21:18

1 Answer 1

1
$\begingroup$

Write a script that aligns short DNA fragments (25-100 basepairs) to an existing genome.

$\endgroup$
3
  • $\begingroup$ ...always remembering that you are reinventing the wheel with that: use it as a "proof-of-concept" that you can program, if they want to align short DNA fragments to a genome they would use BLAST. $\endgroup$
    – nico
    Dec 30, 2010 at 14:56
  • $\begingroup$ @nico, I think @cespinoza implied programing something relevant to the hot topic re-sequencing application (a.k.a. High-Throughput sequencing, Next Generation Sequencing). Blast would not work for that. You want to look at something like Mosaik, SOAP Aligner, ABySS, Bowtie, BWA, or Maq $\endgroup$ Feb 22, 2011 at 5:15
  • $\begingroup$ @Aleksandr: of course I cannot read the mind of cespinoza... but aligning 25bp to an existing genome sounds a lot like checking where some primers bind to the DNA to me... But, again, I may be wrong... I haven't done more than a handful of PCRs in the last few years, and I moved my interests to other fields of biology ;) $\endgroup$
    – nico
    Feb 22, 2011 at 6:21

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.