Introduction to Bio-Informatics

Over the past few decades, rapid developments in genomic and other molecular research technologies have combined to produce a tremendous amount of information related to molecular biology. Bioinformatics applies information technology to this field of study. It entails the creation of databases, algorithms, computational and statistical techniques, and theories to solve the practical problems that arise from the management and analysis of biological data. Common activities in bioinformatics include mapping and analyzingDNAand protein sequences, aligning different DNA and protein sequences to compare them, and creating and viewing 3-D models of protein structures.

Selected Contents: Bioinformatics for Whole-Genome Shotgun Sequencing of Microbial Communities; Bioinformatics EducationPerspectives and Challenges; Time to Organize the Bioinformatics Resourceome; Genome-Scale Computational Biology and Bioinformatics in Australia; Bioinformatics in China: A Personal Perspective; Bioinformatics and Multiepitope DNA Immunization to Design Rational Snake Antivenom; Computational Biology in Costa Rica: The Role of a Small Country in the Global Context of Bioinformatics; An Introduction to Bioinformatics for Glycomics Research; A Comparative Structural Bioinformatics Analysis of the Insulin Receptor Family Ectodomain Based on Phylogenetic Information; High-Throughput Next-Generation Sequencing Technologies Foster New Cutting-Edge Computing Techniques in Bioinformatics; A Quick Guide for Computer-Assisted Instruction in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics; Outlook on Thailand's Genomics and Computational Biology: Research and Development; Hormone-Mediated Gene Regulation and Bioinformatics: Learning One from the Other; Computational Biology in Argentina; Pathogen Proteins Eliciting Antibodies Do Not Share Epitopes with Host Proteins: A Bioinformatics Approach; Bioinformatics and Functional Analysis of an Entamoeba histolytica Mannosyltransferase Necessary for Parasite Complement Resistance and Hepatical Infection; A Biocurator Perspective: Annotation at the Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics Protein Data Bank; NCR-PCOPGene: An Exploratory Tool for Analysis of Sample-Classes Effect on Gene-Expression Relationships; Bioinformatics and Data Management Support for Environmental Genomics; Index