Cost effective research with bioinformatics

Abstract

Bioinformatics is now a research field itself, in addition to being an interdisciplinary field that develops methods and software tools for analyzing and interpreting biological data. At its introduction in 1970s, ‘bioinformatics’ was coined as a term to describe ‘information processes’ in biological systems, analogous to the term ‘biochemistry’ in which the ‘chemical processes’ in biological systems are studied. The importance of this field came to light with the advent of advanced sequencing techniques that produce large volumes of data. Later it has led to subfields like in silico biology where it helped more discoveries while reducing the need for expensive lab work and clinical trials, for example, in the field of medical sciences. Bioinformatics has a great potential in developing countries like Sri Lanka as it opens up a window to conduct high-end research with a fraction of what the conventional research would cost. It can also be used to design the experiments better, replacing certain steps and to perform data analysis in order to reach the most in depth and complete conclusions.