General

Hey guys,

I read this great study on the mutation rates of four family members on Nature. See the link below:
Nature

Job Opening in Medical Informatics/Programming
Job Title: Java Software Engineer External Job Description: TheraDoc, a Hospira company, pioneered the development of patient safety surveillance and clinical decision support. Now combined with Hospira’s global devices business, a truly comprehensive solution for medication safety and infection management is available for current and future healthcare challenges.

This position analyzes, designs, implements and tests software as specified by manager. This position requires proficiency in developing real-time information processing systems, primarily in J2SE. The candidate should possess the ability to analyze and follow technical requirements as well as possess a strong ability to communicate and work with both the team and customer. Knowledge of the healthcare industry, medical informatics and the HL7 standard is beneficial. Skills/Experience Education/Certification

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: · Perform analysis, design, implementation, testing and documentation of software · Troubleshoot software issues · Work closely with other engineering teams · Communicate and work with clinical product development team for enhancements · Evaluate new technology to improve software techniques · Other duties as assigned QUALIFICATIONS · BS degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Bioinformatics or equivalent experience · 2+ years of professional software development experience in Java · 2+ years experience RDBMS/JDBC/SQL · Experience and expertise with object-oriented design and software patterns · Ability to create, analyze and follow requirements · Strong troubleshooting skills · Ability to analyze and communicate impact of software defects · Extremely detail oriented · Strong communication skills · Ability to work well with team and customers · Ability to evaluate new tools and technologies · Experience with medical applications and terminology preferred

DESIRED SKILLS: · Experience working for a large scale enterprise software vendor · Experience working on real-time multi-threaded data processing · Familiarity with TCP sockets programming and packet sniffing · Experience analyzing code for performance and memory usage · Knowledge of XML and related tools · Experience developing and maintaining internal and external APIs · Experience writing machine learning algorithms a plus · Familiarity with Oracle, Netbeans, Eclipse SDK, JUnit or JMX State: UT Site: USA - UT - SALT LAKE CITY Location/BuildingSL (Salt Lake City) Job Family: Engineering Job Category: Full Time

We just had a meeting about undergraduate research opportunities at BYU.  Dr. Griffitts suggested that the best way to become involved is to learn about the research a professor is doing, then email the professor or set up a time to meet with them to discuss ideas for projects.  If you come to the professor with a solid background and good ideas for future projects, you will be more likely to get a position.  Don't be intimidated, just get out and do it.  Most labs require that you volunteer for a semester before you get a paid position.  You can also so research for credit, so talk to your academic advisor about that. 

Research opportunities
I am a sophomore studying biology and I am interested in doing research.  How do I get into a lab?

Biotech/Bioinf Conference
Quick update:  I send an email about this, but I thought I should post it here.

We announced at our meeting last night about the
Biotech/Bioinformatics Conference at BYU that is taking place tomorrow
(Friday) evening and Saturday morning/afternoon. The link to the
website has been down for some time, but I was informed by the event
organizers that there shouldn't be any more trouble.

The link again is http://www.biotconf.org/

FREE Registration for BYU students can be had at http://www.biotconf.org/byu.cgi

If you have trouble getting to the site, an alternate address is
http://star.cs.byu.edu/biot06/byu.cgi

Hey, hey now, its not my website. Don't kill the messenger. :)

Apparently their website has erratic since the power outage, I emailed the event organizer and he said he's aware of it (although perhaps not aware of how bad it is). Hopefully it will be up tomorrow? Sorry, that's all I can tell you.

What Biotech Conference tomorrow?

Elliott,

Your secret website needs a secret code.  How do we go to this conference on Friday?

Upcoming meetings...
Great news Steve!  On the schedule for this semester we have a human geneticist from the U of U coming to present to us, as well as a pharmaceutical company.  Look for flyers, emails and more info to come!

Suggestion
I'm interested in medical applications to genetics/biotech research...how about bringin in a lecturer from U of U med school or a pharma?

Re: Who has Labs here at BYU
Since I'm leaving, I haven't really been keeping my ears open, but I can ask around. What sort of lab are you looking for? What general research focus? 

Who has Labs here at BYU
I am trying to get into a lab here at BYU for the summer and didn't know who to e-mail.  I first started sorting through the faculty list on the the department page, but that is taking forever.  I've worked in a lab back home and have experiance.  Do any of y'all have suggestions on who to contact?  Your help is greatly appreciated.  

Some advice from a graduating Biotech Business major

Since I am a Business and Biotechnology major I would like leave some of my wisdom on this website: 

1. This major is flexible - if you want more business classes to substitute some of you science classes, you can do that. Just talk to your adviser. But, do it in time.

2. Get involved with business professors as soon as possible. Talk with Dr. Hansen and Dr. Bryce of the Marriott School School. They have some experience with biotechnology.  After you have taken a class or become familiar with their work try suggesting a mentor research relationship. It does not necessarily have to be totally down their line but enough to get them to help you. You can say Sam Felin mentioned you on the club website.

3. Get an internship as soon as possible. Don’t wait for your senior year! Try companies you have heard of in lectures or labs. Try asking professors. Spend time on finding  and applying the internships—it takes a good amount of time. But, it is very much worth it.

4. Become a member or an officer of this club. Just get involved. If you come up with an original idea talk about it with the officers and get involved.

5. Start working on business ideas in anything—especially biotech. There are plenty of competitions out there that you can attend. Get a business team going. Use the contacts on the website. Talks to people - get creative and innovative.

6. Contribute to the society. There is a need for more science being taught in schools. Organize a science course in biotechnology or general life sciences and visit science classes in Provo and Orem. Get a motivate group together from the club and go do it.

Membership 3/29/2006

We have 60 members in our club...I have tried to talk to all who I can and all are stellar people. Tying relationship now when we are all in the same boat is very convenient and will make us stronger later in our careers when we are setting up business/research alliances...plus its tons of fun just leaving messages for people to read who might or might not know ... lets get this message board rolling ... I looooov this site Elliott. You are the man. Have fun in China.

The site and Idea
Hey the site looks great and I think this club is a great idea.  It will make our degrees a lot stronger.  Congratulations on setting up the tour with Myriad.  How many members are you guys up to?  I plan on joining soon.

Additions to events/archives
I reformatted the layout of the event calendar. I think its a little more helpful and aesthetically pleasing. And now...I need to study calculus.