Bioinformatics Applications in Biological Research

Abstract

Bioinformatics is the application of information technology to the field of molecular biology. The primary goal of 
bioinformatics is to increase our understanding of biological processes. What sets it apart from other approaches, 
however, is its focus on developing and applying computationally intensive techniques (e.g., data mining, machine 
learning algorithms, and visualization) to achieve this goal. Bioinformatics derives knowledge from computer analysis 
of biological data. These can consist of the information stored in the genetic code, but also experimental results from 
various sources, patient statistics, and scientific literature. Research in bioinformatics includes method development for 
storage, retrieval, and analysis of the data. Bioinformatics is a rapidly developing branch of biology and is highly 
interdisciplinary, using techniques and concepts from informatics, statistics, mathematics, chemistry, biochemistry, 
physics, and linguistics. It has many practical applications in different areas of biology and medicine.