Welcome to the very first post of def Shreya(). Thanks for being here! 

I’m Shreya Dubey, an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, avid reader and lover of language, casual photographer, and permanent learner. 

This little place on the internet will be where I will digitize my endless journals. From Python scripts to ancient scripts, DNA reading frames to photo frames, I’ll try to share the many little pieces I have collected over time. 

So… what do i actually study?

Throughout my academic journey, I have always been slightly out of place. Currently, I am doing a double major in Quantitative Biology and Cell and Molecular Biology and a minor in Statistics (rolls right off the tongue, I know). As a result, I take classes with both pre-med and engineering students. Notably different types of people, but each with a dedicated community. I had things in common with both groups, sharing biochemistry woes and pull request disasters. But ultimately, Quantitative Biology does not fit into either group. After talking about my program, I was almost always met with some variation of, “That’s cool! … but what do you actually do?”  Fair question. 

Quantitative Biology brings together concepts from biology, statistics and computer science in order to understand how biological systems work. If you really think about it, all of life is just a bunch of code. The 4-letter code of our genomes (ATGC) serves as the basis for all our tissues, proteins and signalling molecules. It allows plants to create chlorophyll, a bunny to create adrenaline, and us to create dopamine. These are a few molecular examples, but quantitative biology is also widely applied in larger contexts such as ecology and evolution.

So, that’s a little about me. I have so much more to share. 

Thanks for stopping by!

– Shreya D.