California to Cranfield

Hello, my name is Jason Rogers and I’m earning an MSc in Applied Bioinformatics. I was born and raised in Maryland, USA. I studied biotechnology at RIT in Rochester NY, obtained a PhD in Molecular Biology at Princeton University, and most recently lived in San Francisco, California from 2016-2022 where I worked for Calico Labs as a postdoctoral researcher.

Although I’ve had a strong interest in cell and molecular biology since high school, I developed a passion for bioinformatics during my postdoctoral research. My main project involved high-throughput RNA sequencing, and during my final years (and during the pandemic where I could not perform bench experiments) I discovered that I prefer computational and statistical analysis of biological data over wet-lab research generating the data. During the summer of 2022 I decided to pursue formal training in bioinformatics and chose Cranfield University because of its strong reputation, its accelerated degree program (1 year), and my lifelong desire to live abroad and see England and Europe more.

Before coming to Cranfield, I had only been to England once, and that was 2 months before the program! Settling in and adjusting to the culture was overall easy, although learning to drive on the “wrong” side of the road was a challenge, as well as finding an apartment (I was at an Airbnb for the first 2 months before settling in an apartment in Bedford). I would recommend anyone moving from abroad to view apartments to let before moving.

I frequently visit London (every 1-2 weeks) and have hardly scratched the surface of things to do! Other than that, I have visited Southend-on-Sea, Liverpool, Glasgow, and I’m planning more trips now that the weather is warming up.

Since being at Cranfield, the highlight has been the group project. It feels less like “school” and reminds me of working on team projects at a company, with all the associated pros and cons. We are currently in week 6 of 10 and the project is really coming together. Each person has grown into their own unique role and has provided their own contribution, it’s been a lot of fun. I’m excited to see how the next 4 weeks go!

After Cranfield I plan to return to the biotech industry after this degree, albeit it in a hybrid wet/dry-lab role or an entirely bioinformatics-focused one. I am torn between staying in England and going back to America, both have their own appeal. I will probably apply all over and see what feels most exciting!

The best memory of Cranfield is definitely the people. The faculty and students have been a pleasure to work with, my group has been great, and I’m looking forward to the individual thesis and getting to work closely with my tutor.