Welcome!

BACKGROUND

My name is Margaret Chifwete. I have a background in Bsc Biotechnology and a Post Graduate Diploma in Health Research methods. My interests are mainly in Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics especially in human and animal health. Understanding how one can intergrate the knowledge of bioinformatics in diagnosis and treatment of diseases can be very helpful. Lots of lives can be saved by associating and identifying relationships between the clinical data of patients with their genetic information. Moreover,getting to know the molecular marker responsible for a certain disease can help both medics,researchers and pharmacologists which makes curbing a disease more easier. This also applies to transmission patterns of various diseases;tracing their sources especially during outbreaks and epidemics which enables measures to be taken early to prevent further spread of the disease . Basically my inspiration in Bioinformatics to have an in-depth knowledge of how it can be used to understand disease biology and shared mechanisms which can be useful in treatment.

Currently, I am one of the Bioinformatics intern that recently joined the Molecular Biology, Bioinformatics and Biostatistics unit at ICIPE.Having been in a wet-lab before, and learnt how to generate biological data this is a great opportunity for me to gain expertise in analysing the data and making sense out of it. Looking forward to learn,grow and thrive in the Bioinformatics field.

VISION

My vision as I undertake this internship include:

1. To be conversant in programming languages and use of other useful Bionformatic tools such sequence analysis, proteomic which are cutting edge tools that will be relevant in understanding the genetic basis.
2. To understand and have a deep knowledge in biological data analysis.
3. To develop my career path in Bioinformatics.
4. To interact and network with other bioinformaticians.

ROADMAP.

To achieve my stated visions in this internship, a high level of motivation, dedication and teamwork skills would be required of me. Below is my roadmap on how I intend to make my visions a success.

1. To manage, interpret and analyse large biological data set- This will be achieved by reading and familiarizing myself first theoretically with the resources on Data management in outline/curriculum, tutorials, practice and guidance from the trainers.
2. Presenting results both orally and in written form -After obtaining results and analysing them. The next thing is to be able to share the results and make them understandable to colleagues and others. Through presenting in various meetings, seminars and other gatherings; attending the gatherings can also allow me learn from the various presenters hence sharpening my presentation skills. Conveying a message through writing needs a lot of practice and guidance from experts. Write-up at the end of the mini-project, reading and guidance from colleagues will be of great help.
3. Familiarizing myself with the common software packages, tools and algorithms useful in bioinformatics - It is vital having the basic knowledge and understanding the nature of tools to be used in this course especially when making conclusions. With the resources provided, involving the internet, practice and guidance from the trainers this will be achieved.
4. Being conversant with at least one scripting language (python) - Learn from the resources, personal practice, consulting colleagues and trainers.
5. Gain familiarity with functional genetic and genomic data -This will be done through learning from the resources provided, discussion with colleagues and guidance from trainers.

At the end of my internship, I would love to see myself at a better position in terms of Bioinformatics than I am right now, to have a clear defined path in terms of proceeding with this as my career and further use these skills acquired in solving research questions.