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Bioinformatics

Masters of Science in Bioinformatics

  • What is Bioinformatics?The use of computers to handle biological information. The term is often used to describe computational molecular biology – the use of computers to store, search and characterize the genetic code of genes, the proteins linked to each gene and their associated functions.
  • Is this the only definition of Bioinformatics? Absolutely not. Bioinformatics is a bright new field. This is exemplified in the lack of a standard definition for the word. Here is a sampling of definitions that we found after a simple web search. All certainly have a high degree of validity. 
    • Bioinformatics: An interdisciplinary area at the intersection of biological, computer, and information sciences necessary to manage, process, and understand large amounts of data, for instance from the sequencing of the human genome, or from large databases containing information about plants and animals for use in discovering and developing new drugs.
    • Bioinformatics: the science of informatics as applied to biological research. Informatics is the management and analysis of data using advanced computing techniques. Bioinformatics is particularly important as an adjunct to genomics research, because of the large amount of complex data this research generates.
    • Bioinformatics: is the science and technology about learning, managing and processing biological information. (Definition from Missouri University lecture)

Where can I learn more about this field?

To learn more about Bioinformatics just pick up an issue of Nature, Science, or Bioinformatics. Some useful information can also be found on the following web sites:

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