SMBI
Morroccan Society of BioInformatics
What is Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics is the application of information technology to the field of molecular biology.
The term bioinformatics was coined by Paulien Hogeweg in 1978 for the study of informatics processes in biotic systems. It is a multidisciplinary science based on the acquisitions of biology and informatics.
Bioinformatics nowadays entails the creation and advancement of databases, algorithms, computational and statistical techniques, and theory to solve formal and practical problems arising from the management and analysis of biological data. Common activities in bioinformatics include mapping and analyzing DNA and protein sequences, aligning different DNA and protein sequences to compare them and creating and viewing 3-D models of protein structures.
The primary goal of bioinformatics is to increase our understanding of biological processes. What sets it apart from other approaches, however, is its focus on developing and applying computationally intensive techniques (e.g., data mining and machine learning algorithms) to achieve this goal It proposes methods and software which help to manage genetic informatics, genomics, and bimolecular charged in the data. The research axes privileged in bioinformatics contribute to the management, manipulation, treatment and the analysis of biological data.
Who is involved in bioinformatics?
Bioinformatics includes a scientific community representing competences which revolve around four basic disciplines:
1- Biologists, geneticists, biochemists, and chemists: Participating in scientific projects, using tools and concepts originating from bioinformatics.
2- Mathematicians and statisticians: They develop methods and new formalisms, able to represent, manipulate and quantify biological system components.
3- Computer scientists: They stick to fundamental algorithmic aspects as well as the modeling of knowledge induced from the treatment of biological data. They develop the following technological aspects:
- Data management
- Calculations
- Man/machine interaction necessary to intensively analyze biological systems.
- Develop new competence to accelerate research in biology.
4-Bionformaticians: Having followed a complementary multidisciplinary training in biology and biochemistry, mathematics or informatics, they develop the following technological aspects:
- Place methods and automate treatment
- Participate in the elaboration of new methods
- Render the research themes in bioinformatics accessible to mathematicians and
- computer scientists.