SCOPE OF BIOINFORMATICS
A.RANGANADHA REDDY
WHAT IS BIOINFORMATICS
A subject that teaches application of computational tools and approaches for
expanding the use of biological, medical, behavioral, health and other data, including
those to acquire, store, organize, archive, analyze and visualize such data. Computer
Science teaches development of computational tools to acquire ,store , organize ,
archive ,analyze and visualize data. Bioinformatics is referred to as practical computer
science.
ARGUMENTS MADE BY PROFESSOR LEONARD
ADLEMAN
(RSA algorithm - public-key cryptography )
Has argued that life can be equated with computation.
Dna is both bricks and blue print –an engineers dream.
One gram of dna can store as much information as a trillion compact discs.
PROFESSOR DONALD KNUTH STANFORD
Eminent computer scientist, Donald Knuth of Stanford University has emphasized the
importance of life science and its connectedness with computer science.
Knuth anticipates that the number of radically new results in pure computer science is
likely to decrease.
Computer scientists should work on life science challenges so that they will have work
for the next 500 years
GEO WIEDERFIELD STANFORD UNIVERSITY
The field of bioinformatics is scary for many people, because it is a multidisciplinary
field ( like CS earlier), people are worried about where the positions are and how they
can get them
Bioinformatics is a valuable discipline unless Universities encourage it, shortage of
qualified people in field will increase.
COMPUTER TO DIGITAL LIFE TO LIFE
Can human-made systems be made to possess properties of life?
Digital Systems are used, to perform experiments aimed at revealing the principles of
living systems
This effort is truly interdisciplinary and runs the gamut from biology, chemistry and
physics to computer science and engineering
ARTIFICIAL LIFE TO LIFE…..
Computational effort concerns the search for principles of living systems
Computational experiments consider life "as it could be"
The construction of living systems out of non-living parts is clearly the most ambitious
endeavors: the creation of life using the classical building blocks of nature (carbon-based life)
and the creation of life using the same principles but a different medium for implementation:
the computer
The former explores the possibility of "RNA worlds" by attempting to construct self-
replicating molecules;
The latter (Computer), by simulating simple populations of self-replicating entities, examines
the abilities and characteristics of different chemistries in supporting life-like behavior.
LIFE SCIENCE VS COMPUTER SCIENCE
Life Science is frustratingly holistic?
It emphasizes the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts like in
CS
Computer science has provided highly useful tools for collecting, exchanging and
analyzing data
Modeling and simulation of Data
Finding the right data structure or algorithm can give answers to life science problems
MOLECULAR MEDICINE
The human genome has profound effect on the fields of biomedical research and clinical
medicine. Every disease has a genetic component.
This may be inherited (as is the case with an estimated 3000-4000 hereditary disease including
Cystic Fibrosis and Huntingtons disease) or a result of the body's response to an environmental
stress which causes alterations in the genome.
From Human Genome Project Data Base we can search for the genes directly associated with
different diseases and understand the molecular basis of these diseases more clearly.
This new knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of disease will enable better treatments,
cures and even preventative tests to be developed.
PERSONALIZED MEDICINE
Clinical medicine will become more personalized with the development of the field of
pharma-co-genomics.
This is the study of how an individual's genetic inheritance affects the body's response to
drugs.
At present,
present some drugs fail to make it to the market because a small percentage of the clinical
patient population show adverse affects to a drug due to sequence variants in their dna. As a
result, potentially life saving drugs never makes it to the marketplace.
Today,
Today doctors have to use trial and error to find the best drug to treat a particular patient as
those with the same clinical symptoms can show a wide range of responses to the same
treatment.
PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE
With the specific details of the genetic mechanisms of diseases being unraveled, the
development of diagnostic tests to measure a persons susceptibility to different
diseases may become a distinct reality.
Preventative actions such as change of lifestyle or having treatment at the earliest
possible stages when they are more likely to be successful.
In future,
future doctors will be able to analyse a patient's genetic profile and prescribe the
best available drug therapy and dosage from the beginning.
GENE THERAPY
Gene therapy is the approach used to treat, cure or even prevent disease by changing
the expression of a persons genes. It result in huge advances in our struggle to conquer
disease.
In the not too distant future, the potential for using genes themselves to treat disease
may become a reality.
DRUG DEVELOPMENT
At present all drugs on the market target only about 500 proteins.
With an improved understanding of disease mechanisms and using computational
tools to identify and validate new drug targets, more specific medicines that act on the
cause, not merely the symptoms, of the disease can be developed.
These highly specific drugs promise to have fewer side effects than many of today's
medicines.
MICROBIAL GENOME APPLICATIONS
Microorganisms are ubiquitous, that is they are found everywhere. They have been found
surviving and thriving in extremes of heat, cold, radiation, salt, acidity and pressure.
They are present in the environment, our bodies, the air, food and water. Traditionally, use has
been made of a variety of microbial properties in the baking, brewing and food industries.
The arrival of the complete genome sequences and their potential to provide a greater insight
into the microbial world and its capacities could have broad and far reaching implications for
environment, health, energy and industrial applications.
By studying the genetic material of these organisms, scientists can begin to understand these
microbes at a very fundamental level and isolate the genes .
WASTE CLEANUP
Deinococcus radiodurans is known as the world's toughest bacteria and it is the most
radiation resistant organism known.
Scientists are interested in this organism because of its potential usefulness in
cleaning up waste sites that contain radiation and toxic chemicals.
CLIMATE CHANGE STUDIES
Increasing levels of carbon dioxide emission, mainly through the expanding use of
fossil fuels for energy, are thought to contribute to global climate change.
One method of doing so is to study the genomes of microbes that use carbon dioxide
as their sole carbon source.
BIO-TECHNOLOGY
The archaeon Archaeoglobus fulgidus and the bacterium Thermotoga maritima have
potential for practical applications in industry and environmental remediation.
These microorganisms thrive in water temperatures above the boiling point and
therefore may provide knowledge of heat-stable enzymes suitable for use in industrial
processes.
Other industrially useful microbes include, Corynebacterium glutamicum which is of
high industrial interest as a research object because it is used by the chemical industry
for the biotechnological production of the amino acid lysine.
ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE
Scientists have been examining the genome of Enterococcus faecalis-a leading cause
of bacterial infection among hospital patients.
They have discovered a virulence region made up of a number of antibiotic-resistant
genes that may contribute to the bacterium's transformation from a harmless gut
bacteria to a menacing invader.
The discovery of the region, known as a pathogen city island, could provide useful
markers for detecting pathogenic strains and help to establish controls to prevent the
spread of infection in wards.
FORENSIC ANALYSIS OF MICROBES
Scientists used their genomic tools to help distinguish between the strains of Bacillus
anthraces that was used in the summer of 2001 terrorist attack in Florida with that of
closely related anthrax strains.
THE REALITY OF BIO-WEAPON CREATION
Scientists have recently built the virus poliomyelitis using entirely artificial means.
They did this using genomic data available on the Internet and materials from a mail-
order chemical supply.
The research was financed by the US Department of Defense as part of a bio-warfare
response program to prove to world reality of bio weapon.
The researchers also hope their work will discourage officials from ever relaxing
programs of immunization. This project has been met with very mixed feelings
EVOLUTIONARY STUDIES
The sequencing of genomes from all three domains of life, eukaryota, bacteria and
archaea means that evolutionary studies can be performed in a quest to determine the
tree of life and the last universal common ancestor.
CROP IMPROVEMENT
Comparative genetics of the plant genomes has shown that the organization of their
genes has remained more conserved over evolutionary time than was previously
believed.These findings suggest that information obtained from the model crop
systems can be used to suggest improvements to other food crops.
INSECT RESISTANCE
Genes from Bacillus thuringiensis that can control a number of serious pests have
been successfully transferred to cotton, maize and potatoes.
This new ability of the plants to resist insect attack means that the amount of
insecticides being used can be reduced and hence the nutritional quality of the crops is
increased.
DEVELOPMENT OF DROUGHT RESISTANCE VARIETIES
Progress has been made in developing cereal varieties that have a greater tolerance for soil
alkalinity, free aluminum and iron toxicities.
These varieties will allow agriculture to succeed in poorer soil areas, thus adding more land
to the global production base.
Research is also in progress to produce crop varieties capable of tolerating reduced water
conditions.
deficiencies in Vitamin A and iron respectively.
Scientists have inserted a gene from yeast into the tomato, and the result is a plant
whose fruit stays longer on the vine and has an extended shelf life.
VETERINARY SCIENCE
Sequencing projects of many farm animals including cows, pigs and sheep are now
well under way in the hope that a better understanding of the biology of these
organisms will have huge impacts for improving the production and health of
livestock and ultimately have benefits for human nutrition.
COMPARATIVE STUDIES
Analyzing and comparing the genetic material of different species is an important method
for studying the functions of genes, the mechanisms of inherited diseases and species
evolution.
Bioinformatics tools can be used to make comparisons between the numbers, locations and
biochemical functions of genes in different organisms.
They have a number of properties that make them ideal for research purposes including short
life spans, rapid reproduction, being easy to handle, inexpensive and they can be
manipulated at the genetic level. An example of a human model organism is the mouse.
Mouse and human are very closely related (>98%) and for the most part we see a one to one
correspondence between genes in the two species
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THANK YOU
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