Donald Wong

My current teaching is focused on training students to incorporate computational and data science techniques in their approach to solving current biological questions. My research background revolved around investigating cellular processes, genomics, and evolution of diverse (and often understudied!) microbial eukaryotes. Improving sequencing technologies and computational power had allowed me to approach such questions by complementing traditional molecular biology methods with computational and data science techniques. By leveraging the power of these complementary methodologies, we can now revisit existing knowledge in a new light and tackle questions that may have previously been unfeasible to explore.

Since 2022, I have been involved with MICB 405, a course on bioinformatics where we explore how nucleic acid sequence data are generated and analyzed. MICB 405 students also practice integrating their gained skills with their biology knowledge by designing and completing a collaborative and authentic research project using publicly available data to analyze gene expression patterns in an organism of their choice. I have also successfully introduced a simple bioinformatics exercise in an introductory non-majors biology course, piquing the interest of computer science students while demonstrating the trends of modern biology research. As the Department of Microbiology & Immunology further integrates data science to its curriculum, I look forward to working with students in developing skills that are increasingly pervasive in current biological research!