I would like to do Genetic Engineering but what major?

[Sciguy280]

I will be attending college soon and I just figured out my passion.I know what I want to study but I'm unsure of the exact specific area I want to study.My Junior College offers everything that falls under GeneticEngineering

I am interested in genetic engineering. I would like to learn about manipulating DNA and engineering existing DNA. Cloning is also interesting. What degree would best suit me to pursue?Would a genetics degree teach me the most about genetic engineering?

[Lucius E.E]

What state do you currently reside in?

I may be able to recommend some courses.

[Sciguy280]

What state do you currently reside in?

I may be able to recommend some courses.

I stay in Louisiana but I'll be moving to Houston Texas next year and residing in Cypress.I'll most likely do online classes until next year

[Lucius E.E]

I stay in Louisiana but I'll be moving to Houston Texas next year and residing in Cypress.I'll most likely do online classes until next year

 

Perfect; The online educational industry(E-learning) is booming currently, and is only going to subsume more of the education industry in the next decade.

 

Now in regards to recommendations to online courses these are free course materials from MIT:

 

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/biological-engineering/

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/biology/7-90j-computational-functional-genomics-spring-2005/

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/biology/7-03-genetics-fall-2004/

 

You may also wish to consider getting into this paid course at Berkeley:

 

http://extension.berkeley.edu/search/publicCourseSearchDetails.do?method=load&courseId=41578

 

 

 

Hope this helps.

[Sciguy280]

 

Perfect; The online educational industry(E-learning) is booming currently, and is only going to subsume more of the education industry in the next decade.

 

Now in regards to recommendations to online courses these are free course materials from MIT:

 

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/biological-engineering/

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/biology/7-90j-computational-functional-genomics-spring-2005/

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/biology/7-03-genetics-fall-2004/

 

You may also wish to consider getting into this paid course at Berkeley:

 

http://extension.berkeley.edu/search/publicCourseSearchDetails.do?method=load&courseId=41578

 

 

 

Hope this helps.

I think you misunderstood me,I'll be taking ONLINE courses at the College I will be attending next year. I was looking for what courses I really needed to take because I know Genetic Engineering is a broad area

[Sciguy280]

Thanks for the help though

[amyiaochan]

I think Medical majors are the proper direction for genomic study in your future plan, cos many of my friends are medical students and some of them choose to continue their study in medical fields.Hope my replication will help you.

[Arete]

Ok, so a few points -

 

1) Genetic engineering is a very specific tool at the more advanced end of the educational spectrum. You'll need a good foundational basis in biology before you undertake studies in genetic engineering. I would suggest that any course in the realm of biology, evolution, biochemistry, or biomedical science would touch in the basics. I would focus my course choices on genetics, molecular biology and evolutionary biology. I would also say that to actively work in a genetic engineering lab, you'll need postgraduate training.

 

I would also strongly advise disregarding this:

 

I think Medical majors are the proper direction for genomic study in your future plan..

 

Any course preparing you for a clinical setting will likely not provide you with an adequate basis for a research career in genetic engineering.

 

2) Genetic engineering is more of a set of tools, than a specific study area. People using it range from molecular biologists, to microbiologists, to plant biologists, to cancer researchers, etc and so on. It would be rare that I would encounter a scientist who would first and foremost describe themselves as a genetic engineer, rather than a "something else". As such, I'd keep an open mind as to what overall direction you go in, especially at such an early point in your education.

 

3) The route you take also depends on what sort of position you're interested in - if you want to run your own lab, you'll probably want to do a PhD. if you want to manage a lab, or be a technician, you probably don't.

 

Have fun, and let us know how you get on.

[physica]

Any course preparing you for a clinical setting will likely not provide you with an adequate basis for a research career in genetic engineering.

I second this. People on here know my position on clinical training but to repeat myself I've met plenty of graduates from clinical training that are frustrated as they simply don't have the academic firepower to do high end science. I went back and did a physics degree after years working in accident and emergency (ER) because I wanted to do proper science. I'm hopefully going into a pure physics masters next year and one of the options is tissue engineering. Bio-engineering uses a lot of different specialties. Some bio courses will help you but going heavy on math courses definitely won't hold you back. Google group theory and genetics, it's the application of a branch of maths applied to genetics.