What inspired you to start research in computational biology?
I started from a pure biological background, with no intention to get into statistics or programming. Later on, I figured out that if I wanted to understand, at least superficially, how to answer my research questions, I needed to go deeper into both stats and coding. Naively, I started delving deeper into the methods and implementations of what I read. Because of the enjoyment it brings to be able to reproduce such algorithms, I just got sucked into it.
What are 5 important skills needed for your research?
- Statistics
- Coding
- Creativity
- Discussion of ideas
- Patience
How did you learn the computational and quantitative skills necessary for your work?
R was taught in my undergraduate statistics course. This was very basic but helped me understand it's power. Since then, I would have to say, I have learned all my programming and stats by my own: trial and error, googling, and some books.
What important questions do you address in your research?
I'm very interested in how biodiversity is originated and maintained, and why is there so much spatial and temporal variance in biodiversity. I use phylogenetics and spatial analyses to tackle this questions.