1. Biological Information and Biological Databases
Dr Tan Tin Wee
Director
Bioinformatics Centre
National University of Singapore

2. Nature of Life Science Information
Descriptive
Classification and Nomenclatural
Observational and Phenomenological
Experimental
Deduced/Computed
Simulated?
Theoretical?

3. Descriptive

4. Classify and Give Names
Classification and Nomenclature
Linnaeus - binomial nomenclature
Group into kingdoms, phyla, classes, orders, families, genera, species, subspecies, strains, etc
associate descriptions to these classification schema, and classify according to description etc

5. Observational/Phenomenological
Like descriptive, yet more active
Observe a lot of biological phenomenon
Charles Darwin and the Beagle voyage
Gregor Mendel to McClintock
Start to do some experiments

6. Experimental
From dissections to complex genetic engineering experiments
Reductionist approach
Occam's Razor

7. Fundamental Dogma

8. Work from the Code of Life

10. Deduced and Computed Information in the Era of Computational Biology

12. The Strategic Simulation Initiative (SSI) Revolutionising Science Through Simulation

13. Complexity of Genome Systems Simulation
- Track expression of
100,000 genes as a
function of time,
conditions and
environment
- Genes interact in
complex non-linear ways
- Dynamic systems
capable of chaotic
behaviour
- The next large
simulation problem

14. Examples of the New Biology
1. Full genome-genome comparisons
2. Rapid assessment of polymorphic genetic variations
3. Complete construction of orthologous or paralogous groups of genes
4. Structure determination of large macromolecular assemblies/complexes
5. Dynamically simulation of realistic oligomeric systems
6. Rapid structural/topological clustering of proteins
7. Prediction of unknown molecular structures; Protein folding
8. Computer simulation of membrane structure and dynamic function
9. Simulation of genetic networks and the sensitivity of these pathways to component stiochiometry and kinetics
10. Integration of observations across scales of vastly different dimensions and organization to yield realistic environmental models for basic biology and societal needs

15. Theoretical?
The day will dawn when we will have sufficient information to understand how basic life functions are integrated into a living cell, and how such cells intercommunicate and interoperate to function as a living whole. Then maybe, we can start talking about theoretical biology

26. Blast Results

27. Mapping/Pathways From Genetic Maps of genomes To Metabolic Pathways
To Signal Transduction circuitry
To Immunological regulatory networks

28. Categories of BioDbs - by domain of information
DNA
RNA
Protein
Genomic Mapping
Pathways
Structure
Bibliographic
Biochemical/Molecular/Miscellaneous

29. Other categories By category of species
By families or superfamilies of molecules
etc
Demo

30. Demonstration of BioDatabases
Majority of Life Science databases are online, accessible with Web via Internet
Catalogs of databases available
Need for a Registry to keep track and offer quality control