Omer Bashir arrived at the University of Pittsburgh with industry experience and left with a powerful new toolkit in computational biology to complement his pharmaceutical background.
After completing his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, Bashir worked in the pharmaceutical industry on drug discovery projects. He developed wet lab skills in his job but also wanted to add more computational skills to his repertoire. That’s when he found the Computational Biomedicine and Biotechnology (CoBB) master’s degree program.
“I knew that data science could be really beneficial for drug discovery, so I wanted to put my wet lab and dry lab experience together,” Bashir said. “I thought CoBB was a good program because it provides a strong foundation for computer science and all these computational techniques.”
Through a combination of coursework and directed study, Bashir gained the computational background he needed to take his career to the next level. His favorite course was Structural Biology with David Koes. It helped him apply computational skills to drug discovery through hands-on projects.
Bashir also completed a directed study experience in Associate Professor Mert Gur’s lab. There, he worked on creating molecular dynamic (MD) simulations to understand autoimmune diseases. This directed study experience developed Bashir’s confidence as a researcher.
“In my first semester here, I read a MD paper and didn’t understand much about MD simulation,” Bashir said. “By the end of the program, I knew exactly what was happening. That’s how I knew I grew in this program.”
Moving to Pittsburgh from Madison, Wisconsin was an adjustment for Bashir because it was his first time living in a larger city. However, he found his community by joining pickup basketball games with other Pitt students to de-stress from studying.
All of his hard work has paid off; Bashir now has his Master of Science degree under his belt. His next step is applying to PhD programs in Biomedical Data Science. Bashir dreams of becoming a leader in the pharmaceutical industry one day and creating his own company.
As he prepares to take the next step after leaving Pitt, Omer offers a few words of advice for current and future CoBB students. “Grad school can be a little daunting at times but stick with it and the outcome will be positive. It also helps if you can manage your stress by finding a good hobby that allows you to channel your energy. You’ll feel fresher when you get back in the classroom.”