time to moderate bionet.virology

[Benoit_Hebert at IAF.UQUEBEC.CA]

traveler (traveler at neosoft.com) wrote:
> Mr. O'Neal, 
> I was hoping you could help me by answering a few questions   
> about virology as a profession.  I've been reading   
> bionet.virology for a while now and I am under the impression   
> that you are a virologist or molecular biologist (actually I'm   
> just guessing).  And you seem friendly enough perhaps to offer   
> some guidance counseling to an undergrad at University of   
> Houston. 
> I have been interested in disease since I was in 8th grade and   
> I knew even then that I wanted a career that would study the   
> innermost boundries of human understanding.  I also have a   
> mission in life to help alieviate some human suffering.  I'm   
> not a nutcase, just very curious and dedicated. 
> Fred Murphy of the C.D.C. said that a virologist can choose one   
> of three fields of research: 
>     1. molecular biology 
>     2. pathology 
>     3. epidemiology 

These are only ways to attack a problem... You can use molecular
techniques to collect data and use that for epidemiological studies
or you can study the pathology of viruses at a molecular level.

  
> I'm having trouble deciding on one of the three. I was hoping   
> you could add to the information I'm collecting. 

Then don't! Start by doing a M.Sc. degree in Virology. Make sure you
get to use different techniques (Molbio, cell cultures, some immunology).

> 1. If you are indeed a scientist, what is your field of   
> specialty? (If not, please disregard this annoyance entirely   
> and I apoligize for taking your time.) 
> 2. Where did you attend school and would you recommend it to   
> others? 
> 3. If I may be so nosy, what are you working on now? 
> 4. Have you found the politics of funding to affect your work   
> adversly? 


Good luck!

Benoit Hebert

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Benoit_Hebert at iaf.uquebec.ca

Virology Research Center
Armand-Frappier Institute, Laval, Quebec
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