Meet John Zinno

What was your program of study?

Bioinformatics, M.S. Online

What field were you working in when you started this program?

When I started the program I was a research scientist already working primarily as like wet lab work. Doing crispr imaging things like that, but when the pandemic started, we were all working from home. So, I wanted to continue, you know, getting work done, making an impact.

What was your goal or reason for applying to this program?

I wanted to continue, you know, getting work done, making an impact. So for that reason I started doing bioinformatics work and it made sense for me to go ahead and further my education by doing the bioinformatics Program, and that was really exciting because through the program I was able to actually be part of a paper that characterized omicron mutations and things like that.

What was your favorite course or course(s) taken?

I think the favorite course I took in this program specifically was the machine learning courses actually because coming into the program you look at words like AI and machine learning being thrown around all over the place, and from an outside perspective they kind of seem like this sort of black magic that bioinformaticians are using; but I feel the course really made it simple to understand from first principles what all is going on, and then ultimately be able to use those skills and apply those methods yourself.

Would you recommend this program to others and why or why not?

Certainly recommend this program if computation biology's stuff you're interested in, bioinformatics.

Do you have any advice you would give to future incoming students or those trying to decide whether or not to take this program?

What's nice about the program is there's people from all sorts of different backgrounds, whether it be computer science or biology, and all the instructors really, instructors really try to bridge that gap and you really have a good holistic experience of what bioinformatics is.