From Pipettes to Python: How to Break Into Computational Biology

About this episode

Dean Lee shares his journey from bench scientist to computational biologist and offers insights on how others can make a similar transition without additional degrees.

Most bench scientists think breaking into computational biology means going back to school. Dean Lee proves otherwise. Dean went from neuroscience PhD student at Harvard to Principal Computational Biologist at Novartis by teaching himself to analyze scRNA-seq data in stolen scraps of time alongside his bench job, and now he helps thousands of scientists make the same move through his online community Dean's List. In this episode, Dean and Carina break down exactly what it takes to build real computational biology credibility without another degree, without quitting your job, and without waiting for someone to hand you permission. You'll learn: Why Coursera certificates don't move hiring managers and what actually does How to find public biological data and build your first comp bio project this week The reproducibility strategy: why re-analyzing a published Nature paper is an industry skill and your best portfolio move at the same time How to pitch yourself as a funded intern through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center to break into small biotech startups The state of entry-level comp bio hiring in 2026 and where the openings actually are How to frame volunteer work and…

People in this episode

Host: Carina Clingman

Guest: Dean Lee

Topics covered

• computational biology
• career transition
• self-directed learning
• data analysis
• biotech startups
• resume building

Keywords

• computational biology
• scRNA-seq
• career pivot
• biotech
• self-learning
• internship
• resume tips
• data projects

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Harvard, Novartis, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center

Books & works: Nature

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