Bioinformatics

It is a science that uses computers as tools to store, retrieve and analyze biological information in life science research. It is one of the major frontier fields of life science and natural science today, and it will also be one of the core fields of natural science in the 21st century. Its research focus is mainly reflected in the two aspects of genomics (Genomics) and proteomics (Proteomics), specifically from the nucleic acid and protein sequences, the analysis of the structure and function of biological information expressed in the sequence.
Bioinformatics is a discipline that uses computer technology to study the laws of biological systems.
The current bioinformatics is basically just a combination of molecular biology and information technology (especially Internet technology). The research materials and results of bioinformatics are a variety of biological data. The research tool is a computer. The research methods include the search (collection and screening), processing (editing, collating, managing, and displaying) of biological data and Use (calculation, simulation).
Since the 1990s, with the development of various genome sequencing projects and the breakthrough of molecular structure determination technology and the popularity of the Internet, hundreds of biological databases have sprung up and grown like mushrooms. It poses a serious challenge to bioinformatics workers: what information is contained in hundreds of millions of ACGT sequences? How does this information in the genome control the development of the organism? How has the genome itself evolved?
Another challenge of bioinformatics is to predict protein structure from the amino acid sequence of the protein. This problem has plagued theoretical biologists for more than half a century, and the need to find answers to questions is becoming increasingly urgent. The Nobel Prize winner W. Gilbert once pointed out in 1991: "The traditional way of solving problems in biology is experimental. Now, based on all genes will be known, and reside in the database in an electronically operable way, the new The starting point of the biological research model should be theoretical. A scientist will start from the theoretical speculation, and then return to the experiment to track or verify these theoretical assumptions. "
The main research directions of bioinformatics: genomics-proteomics-systems biology-comparative genomics, let's not cite the long definition of bioinformatics, and explain its core application in popular language: with the inclusion of the human genome project The milestone progress of the biological genome sequencing project, and the resulting biological data including the birth, death and death of the organism is increasing at an unprecedented rate, and has now doubled every 14 months. At the same time, with the popularity of the Internet, hundreds of biological databases have sprung up and grown up like mushrooms. However, these are just the acquisition of original bioinformatics, which is the initial stage of the development of the bioinformatics industry. At this stage, most bioinformatics companies make a living selling biodatabases. Celera, known for sequencing human genomes, is a successful representative of this stage.
After the original biological information resources were dug out, life science workers faced severe challenges: what information is contained in hundreds of millions of ACGT sequences How does this information in the genome control the development of the organism? How has the genome itself evolved? The advanced stage of the bioinformatics industry is reflected here, and humans have since entered the post-genomic era centered on bioinformatics. The new drug innovation project combined with bioinformatics is a typical application at this stage