What is Bioinformatics in Computer Science?

Bioinformatics In Computer Science

Bioinformatics has become a buzzword in today’s world of science. Earlier, people saw biology and computer science as two entirely different fields. One would learn about living beings and their functions whereas the other would learn about computers and underlying theories. However, these two fields are completely different and this new field has emerged as a combination of both Computer Science and Biology.

A Brief Overview to Bioinformatics

Bioinformatics is the application of computer technology to the management of biological information. One of the major activities that the field of bioinformatics involves is the development of software tools that helps students of Engineering Colleges in India generate useful knowledge within the biological field. Although they can intersect, bioinformatics is different from the field of biological computation. While biological computation is a subfield of computer engineering and computer science that uses biology and bioengineering to create biological computers. It further employs computers for the purpose of better understanding biology.

What are the important goals of Bioinformatics?

One of the primary goals of the bioinformatics sector is to generate an increase in knowledge related to various biological processes. Bioinformatics differs from other approaches that are employed to accomplish this objective. It results in increasing focus on the development and application of specific techniques which further refers to as “computationally intensive.” Some of these techniques include visualization, machine learning algorithms, data mining, and pattern recognition. Some of the major research work that has been completed in the field by the students of best engineering college in Jaipur includes gene finding, sequence alignment, drug discovery, protein structure prediction, drug design, protein structure alignment, prediction of gene expression, protein-protein interactions, the modeling of evolution, and genome-wide association studies.

Why Learn and Apply Bioinformatics?

Bioinformatics has become an inter-disciplinary science and being a biologist helps you having knowledge in bioinformatics that can benefit you immensely with your experiments and research. Today’s job industry is full of vacancies for people with skills in bioinformatics. Major pharmaceutical, biotech and software companies are seeking to hire professionals from engineering colleges Jaipur with experience in bioinformatics. In this, they will be working with huge amounts of biological and health care information.

A major application of bioinformatics can be found in the fields of precision medicine and preventive medicine. Precision medicine consists of different health care techniques customized for individual patients like treatments and practices. Rather than treating or curing diseases, precision medicine largely focuses of developing measures to prevent diseases. Some of the diseases being focused includes influenza, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

Researches are being carried out to identify genetic alterations in patients allowing scientists to come up with better treatments and even possible measures of prevention. Certain types of cancer, being caused by such genetic alterations can be identified beforehand and can be treated before the conditions get worse.

What are the Contemporary Developments in the field of Bioinformatics?

Since decades, there have been rapid developments in genomic research technologies. Moreover, Top engineering College in Jaipur have generated developments that have resulted in the production of much information pertaining to the field of molecular biology. These days, bioinformatics includes the development and continual evolution of databases, algorithms, statistical and computational techniques. Also, the field involves the use of theory for the purpose of solving practical and formal problems that arise from biological data analysis and management.

How to Approach Bioinformatics?

Before getting deep in to the subject initially, students of top engineering colleges will have to learn a little bit about biology; genetics and genomics to be specific. This will include studying about genes, DNA, protein structures, RNA, various synthesis processes etc.

Later, you will study about biological sequences and techniques to discover and analyze various patterns and informative sites in them. An individual will come across various algorithms used by different techniques. Also, you will get the chance to use various machine learning and data mining techniques like hidden Markov models, clustering, and neural networks.

Since you will be dealing with large amounts of data, it is crucial to have a good understanding in statistics as you only need to analyze data according to specific requirements. Of course, you will need good programming skills like Python, R, and Bash. They are the most commonly used programming languages in biological data analyses. Deciding which one to start will depends on your goals. You can use other languages like C/C++ and Java as well.

After having the basic understanding about the fundamental concepts, students of engineering colleges can explore other areas like structural bioinformatics, systems biology and biological networks.

What are the Sub-categories for Structural Bioinformatics?

One of the broad sub-categories which falls under the umbrella of bioinformatics is structural bioinformatics. Structural bioinformatics includes the analysis and subsequent prediction of the 3-D structure of molecules like RNA, DNA, and proteins. This field covers generalizations regarding macromolecular 3D structure like principles of molecular evolution, binding interactions, and folding. Also, this sector encompasses functional and structural relationships, working from both computational models and experimentally solved structures.

Conclusion

While finding the worlds of biology and/or computer science to be intriguing, students of top BTech Colleges in Jaipur should note that the field of bioinformatics is playing a primary role in the development and evolution of knowledge regarding both sectors. All this information will help you determine whether this field is one you might want to pursue professionally.

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