What is the Course About

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What is the Course About ?

• Bioinformatics - Analyzing, interpreting,
• and understanding of biological data.
• Bioinformatics is a relatively new
• multidisciplinary, fast growing field.
• What are the terms ?
• Bioinformatics.
• Computational biology.

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Bio-Informatics working definition (National
Institute of Health, USA)

• Bioinformatics
• Research, development, or application of
  computational tools
• and approaches for expanding the use of
  biological, medical,
• behavioral or health data, including those to
  acquire, store,
• organize, archive, analyze, or visualize such
  data.
• Computational biology
• The development and application of
  data-analytical and
• theoretical methods, mathematical modeling and
• computational simulation techniques to the study
  of
• biological, behavioral, and social systems.

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What is Bio-Informatics ?
Computational methods for global
understanding of biological data.
Better biological and medical understanding.
Data produced by bio-labs and stored in
database.
Bio-Informatics Algorithms and Tools
Goal Enable the discovery of new biological
insights and create a global perspective for
life sciences.
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A Computer Science Perspective

• Recombinant DNA technology has created a
  revolution in
• molecular biology in the last decade.
• New computational problems arise form large
  genome
• projects and novel high throughput
  technologies.
• Problems involve collection, assembly,
  organization and
• interpretation of molecular data.
• Novel algorithmic, mathimatical and
  statistical tools are
• crucial for analyzing this flow of
  information and discover
• new global structures on it.

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Important Bio-Info. Topics

• Sequence comparison and alignment.
• Constructing phylogenetic trees from sequences.
• Gene finding analysis.
• Finding regulatory motifs in DNA sequences.
• Structural biology 3D protein structure.
• Correlation to function.
• Functional genomics.

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The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology
Replication
Many protein types
Many mRNA types
DNA
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Transcription
Translation
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Phenotype
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The Central Paradigm of Bio-informatics
Molecular structure
Biochemical function
Genetic information
Symptoms
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Computer Science Tools are Crucial
http//www.sanger.ac.uk/PostGenomics/S_pombe/prese
ntations/EMBOCopenhagenWebsite.pdf
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Why Use Bio-Informatics ?

• A more global view of experimental design.
• (from one scientist one gene/protein/diseas
  e
• paradigm to whole organism consideration).
• Data mining - functional/structural
  information
• is important for studying the molecular basis
  
• of diseases, diagnostics,
• developing drugs
• (personal medicine),
• evolutionary patterns,
• etc.

Future of Bio-Informatics
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Why Use Bio-Informatics ? -cont.
http//www.library.csi.cuny.edu/davis/Bioinfo_326
/lectures/lect14/lect_14.html