Graduate Student Spotlight | Alyssa Klein

I completed my undergraduate career at Lebanon Valley College and earned a degree in biology with a minor in chemistry. After completing my undergraduate career, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to graduate school or not, so I began my journey in the Bioinformatics Program part-time.

After completing this class, I knew this was definitely the career field that I wanted to pursue.  A graduate assistant position in the Hood biology department happened to open up for the fall, and upon applying, I was more than excited to be offered the job! Since Fall 2018, I have been a graduate assistant for the biology department, assisting with various labs, teaching a lab section myself, while also going to school full-time.

The title of my master’s thesis is: Developing a Bioinformatics Pipeline to Assess the Potential Functional Impact of Novel Protein Isoforms. The idea for this pipeline evolved with the help of Miranda Darby, Ph.D., head of the Bioinformatics program, as well as my thesis advisor.

Dr. Darby and her research group had completed previous work where they found novelly expressed regions in the genome that led to the creation of novel mRNAs with these novelly expressed regions included.

These novel transcripts have the potential to code for novel protein isoforms, and so this pipeline was developed to determine what the potential functional impact of these novel protein isoforms could be.

Completion of the thesis was definitely demanding at times.  You have to manage your time efficiently, making sure to consistently work on it and make progress.  There are constantly roadblocks that come up that need to be handled in order to keep moving forward. I experienced several points of problem-solving, teaching me to think critically at a higher level than I have ever had to before.

The Hood Bioinformatics program does a great job in providing its students with a foundation of skills that will be needed when they get into the working world.

The program covers leadership in science, foundational computer science coding skills, machine learning, and other topics. Rather than focus on specific topics, there is a broader approach being taken in teaching us students so that we have the skills necessary to navigate the Bioinformatics realm. We will be able to adapt to the rapid changes being made in conducting computational science to the best of its ability.

I would like to extend a big “Thank You” to all the Hood professors I have had over the course of my time in the Bioinformatics program. 

Each professor was more than enthusiastic to share their knowledge with us, and they were always so willing to help students whenever they needed it.  I truly feel as though I have been prepared with a sturdy foundation of skills to pursue a career in Bioinformatics.

My advice for those finishing up the program: Enjoy every second of it, as it will surely be over in the blink of an eye!

Inspired by Alyssa's story and ready to #GOFURTHER in your studies and career? Learn more about our graduate programs, including the M.S. in Bioinformatics, by clicking here.