Introduction:

Louisiana Biomedical Research Network (LBRN) was established in September 2001 with Biomedical Research Infrastructure Networks (BRIN) funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), through the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) Grant P20RR016456, the LBRN is committed to raising the research competitiveness of Louisiana researchers. The Louisiana Biomedical Research Network consists of people made up from the Administrative Core, Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, and Computational Biology Core, Molecular and Cell Biology Resources Core, Currently Funded Project Investigators of all types, Past Funded Project Investigators, Primarily Undergraduate Institutional Steering Committee Members, and External Advisory Committee Members.

Dr. Urska Cvek is an associate director of the LBRN Bioinformatics Core, responsible for coordination of educational and research support activities under LBRN across the state of Louisiana (https://naipi.org/south-eastern-region/louisiana/)

The NAIPI team set out to learn from Dr. Cvek about her journey to bioinformatics and her current experience working with LBRN as a PI and core associate director to elevate biomedical research across the state.

Interview Summary:

Dr. Cvek has an unusual background for someone in bioinformatics: she has an MBA and a bachelor’s of science in economics/marketing. After a chance exposure to computer science during her graduate studies, she decided to change her career path.

“I’m definitely a converted person. I have a very different perspective than a traditional computer scientist.”

Since her chance exposure to computer science, Dr. Cvek has remained an active member of the data science community and has been involved in many different projects. Similar to other bioinformaticians, her efforts have netted her an array of research topics and a network of collaborators that always keep the field interesting for her.

“I’m intrigued by always working on things that are different. I like a challenge, I like something new every time. In computer science, and especially in bioinformatics because it’s such an evolving field, there is always something different.”

Dr. Cvek’s own research focus has been on leveraging data science and bioinformatic techniques to improve personalized medicine practices. She believes there is potential hidden in medical record data.

“My general goal is to use computer science and data science techniques to answer some of today’s challenges and bring a new perspective. [I] try to find answers to help personalize and tailor the medicine of the future and I see that there is a lot of opportunity still there.”

Aside from Dr. Cvek’s active role in research, she is also the associate director of the LBRN Bioinformatics Core and the LBRN research scientist for Louisiana State University-Shreveport. Through these positions, Dr. Cvek is able to directly assist collaborators with some of their data heavy workload.

“Typically what we do is, we start with LBRN [by] supporting the projects individually. I have the research scientist position, who is partially funded through LBRN, so we are actually able to do some of that work for them.”

Dr. Cvek also finds joy in working with students, many of whom are interested in both data science and biotechnical fields. Through her research and teaching, she prepares students to enter the technical world by providing real world applications and access to all the tools necessary to succeed.

“I think… genuinely caring about your students is going to give you the best foot forward.”

“Today our job as educators is to give people the tools, the students, the tools they are going to be able to use 20 years from now… For me it’s giving them the opportunity to understand that, number one, they will never stop learning and, number two, that there is other stuff out there that can do the job already if they’re asking that question.”

For students who are interested in this area of work, Dr. Cvek also was able to provide some insight into how to get involved and how to be successful in the field.

“If you start going down [the path of] bioinformatics, you really have to be able to and willing to listen to somebody who is the expert in life science, biochemistry, [or] whatever you’re trying to do and at the same time convert it so that you can tell them what you can do with their stuff and what you can contribute to the project.”

“To get yourself involved in things, the summer student research projects are a great thing. They are usually due to LBRN by the end of January, early February. That’s a great place to start because it’s a 10 week commitment, it’s organized with talks [and] with things that are connected to research projects… I think that’s a great opportunity for our students to get some funding.”

“Starting somewhere is important…Just start somewhere. That is my message.”