Bioinformatics: Design, Sequencing and Gene Expression

Book excerpt: Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field of science, which combines biology, mathematics, computer science and statistics, for the development of methods and software tools to understand biological data. These may include the interpretation of the genetic basis of disease, unique adaptations, differences between populations, etc. It also aids in the understanding of the organizational principles between nucleic acids and protein sequences. Techniques such as image and signal processing facilitate the extraction of useful results from large amounts of data. Besides these, computational techniques of pattern recognition, visualization, data mining, etc. are used in bioinformatics. Research in this field explores the areas of drug design and discovery, gene finding, sequence alignment, prediction of gene expression and protein-protein interactions, among others. This book is a compilation of chapters that discuss the most vital concepts and emerging trends in the field of bioinformatics. The various advancements in this field are glanced at and their applications as well as ramifications are looked at in detail. This book is a vital tool for all researching and studying this field.