Bioinformatics

What is Bioinformatics?

Bioinformatics is a subdiscipline of biology and computer science concerned with the acquisition, storage, analysis, and dissemination of biological data, most often DNA and amino acid sequences.

Bioinformatics uses computer programs for a variety of applications, including determining gene and protein functions, establishing evolutionary relationships, and predicting the three-dimensional shapes of proteins.

Applications of Bioinformatics

Bioinformatics is used in many sectors including government, research, industry, information technology, medicine and pharmacology. Common research fields include biomedical, pharmaceutical, environmental, agricultural, and animal science.

Some applications of bioinformatics include:

  • Personalized medicine

  • Drug discovery

  • Gene therapy

  • Preventive medicine

  • Crop and livestock resistance

  • Comparative genomics and evolutionary biology

  • Pathogen detection

  • Energy production

  • Environmental cleanup and toxic waste reduction

  • Industrial processing

  • Food production

Careers in Bioinformatics

  • Agriculturalist

  • Bioinformatics Analyst, Programmer, Scientist

  • Biotechnologist

  • Biomedical Researcher

  • Biostatistician

  • Clinical Lab Technician

  • Computational Biologist

  • Epidemiologist

  • Geneticist, Genetic Engineer

  • Medical Illustrator, Technologist

  • Molecular Biologist

  • Physician

  • Professor

  • Research Scientist

  • Software Programmer

  • Technical Writer

  • Zoologist or Wildlife Biologist