Introduction to Bioinformatics (Lecture for CS397-CXZ Algorithms in Bioinformatics) Jan. 21, 2004 ChengXiang Zhai Department of Computer Science University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Outline What is bioinformatics? Why is bioinformatics important? Bioinformatics and other fields Topics in bioinformatics
What is Bioinformatics No standard definition! Our definition: Management & Exploitation of Biological Information –Biological information (DNA, Gene expression, Proteins, Literature….) –Information management (search, organization, classification) –Information exploitation (pattern analysis, data mining) Other definitions –(Broader) Computer Science + Biology, would cover Computational Biology (biosimulation) Bioimaging, etc –(Biased/Narrow) Only refers to one of the following Information management tool development Analysis of biology data
Why is Bioinformatics Important? Biology perspective –More and more biological information is available –Need for effectively accessing and using the information –Information analysis supplements (even may replace) web lab experiments Computer science perspective –Excellent application domain –Poses special computational challenges –Brings computer science closer to scientific discovery Currently growing …
The Growing Field of Bioinformatics Research: Universities are expanding research programs in bioinformatics Education: New degree programs are being launched Industry: Pharmaceutical industry has a great interest in bioinformatics Many job and funding opportunities Tour of the Course Resource Web Page
Theoretical CS Bioinformatics and Other Fields Molecular Biology Machine Learning Data Mining Information Management Biophysics Bioinformatics Biochemistry Applied Mathematics & Statistics Biology Computer Science
Topics in Bioinformatics > DNA sequence AATTCATGAAAATCGTATACTGGTCTGGTACCGGC TGAGAAAATGGCAGAGCTCATCGCTAAAGGTA TCTGGTAAAGACGTCAACACCATCAACGTGTC ACATCGATGAACTGCTGAACGAAGATATCCTG TTGCTCTGCCATGGGCGATGAAGTTCTCGAGG > Protein sequence MKIVYWSGTGNTEKMAELIAKGIIESGKDV DELLNEDILILGCSAMGDEVLEESEFEPFIE KVALFGSYGWGDGKWMRDFEERMNGYG PDEAEQDCIEFGKKIANI Gene (DNA) Function (Protein) Gene expression & regulation Microarray data (Matrix) Genomics Proteomics transcriptomics