Chapter 15 - Bioinformatics

Abstract

Bioinformatics is the application of information technology to the field of molecular biology. It entails the creation and advancement of databases, algorithms, computational and statistical techniques, and theory to solve formal and practical problems arising from the management and analysis of biological data. The primary goal of bioinformatics is to increase the understanding of biological processes. Major research efforts in the field include sequence alignment, gene finding, genome assembly, protein structure alignment, protein structure prediction, prediction of gene expression and protein-protein interactions, and the modeling of evolution. Bioinformatics involves analyzing DNA sequences, analyzing RNA sequences, and analyzing protein sequence. SOAP and REST-based interfaces are developed for a wide variety of bioinformatics applications, allowing an application running on one computer in one part of the world to use algorithms, data, and computing resources on servers in other parts of the world. A data mining/pattern recognition system has standardized components, bringing bioinformatics and DNA microarray analysis into a more mature field, and providing practical ways of making accurate decisions in many areas, including disease diagnosis with accompanying action plans with a known probability of success.