What is bioinformatics?
Bioinformatics is the field of science in which biology, computer science, and information technology merge into a single discipline. The ultimate goal of the field is to enable the discovery of new biological insights as well as to create a global perspective from which unifying principles in biology can be discerned. There are three important sub-disciplines within bioinformatics:
	the development of new algorithms and statistics with which to assess relationships among members of large data sets; the analysis and interpretation of various types of data including nucleotide and amino acid sequences, protein domains, and protein structures; and the development and implementation of tools that enable efficient access and management of different types of information.

Information and tutorials at NCBI

		BLAST/PSI-BLAST				Entrez search and retrieval system
		Information and tutorials				Nucleotide tutorial	OMIM tutorial	PubMed tutorial	Structure tutorial

Why use bioinformatics?
The rationale for applying computational approaches to problems in biology include:
	an explosive growth in the amount of biological information (see review) which necessitates the use of computers for information cataloging and retrieval. a more global perspective in experimental design. As we move from the one scientist-one gene/protein/disease paradigm of the past to a consideration of whole organisms, we gain opportunities for new insights into health and disease. data-mining - the process by which testable hypotheses are generated regarding the function or structure of a gene or protein of interest by identifying similar sequences in better characterized organisms. For example, new insight into the molecular basis of a disease may come from investigating the function of homologs of the disease gene in model organisms. Equally exciting is the potential for uncovering phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary patterns.

Revised June 15, 2000