Research opportunities in Bioinformatics

Biology easily has 500 years of exciting problems to work on. By developing techniques for analyzing sequence data and related structures, we can attempt to understand molecular basis of life. Bioinformatics is a relatively new interdisciplinary science. It relates to the use of information technology in the field of molecular biology and involves the application of computer technology for analysis and management of biological data. For example, various methods such as graph-theory, general network analysis techniques, Boolean networks, Petri net formalism etc., are used to explore different biochemical systems. Various international universities offer courses and project at the bachelor, master and doctorate levels to gain expertise in the field.

Currently at the Frankfurt University, the bioinformatics department is using systems to cover metabolic networks, signal transduction networks, and gene-regulatory networks with the major focus on network validation techniques and network reduction approaches. Because of the size and complexity of biochemical networks, models of them have to be investigated for their correctness and completeness.

This ranges from protein structure analysis to computational systems biology. the scope of bioinformatics research is in algorithm development to solve problems of molecular biology.

Computational systems biology involves:

Qualitative and quantitative modeling of biochemical processes in metabolic networks, in signal transduction network and in gene regulatory networks.

Adaption and extension of Petri net and Boolean techniques for exploring biochemical  systems/pathways, modelling of cell communication.

Structural Bioinformatics involves:

Protein structure topology, protein structure comparison.

Protein-Ligand interactions, protein-protein interactions.

Structural aspects of alternative splice site.

Some other career areas that fall within the scope of bioinformatics include:

Biological image data analysis. Sequence analysis for specific sites within a genome Protein interaction and pathway study.

Homology modelingforanalyzingthe relationship between structure and function of a protein. Molecular modelingof small molecules for drug target information. Multiple network cluster study.

These approaches are reflected in the main aims of the field, which are to understand and organize the information associated with biological molecules on a large scale. As a result, bioinformatics has not only provided greater depth to biological investigations, but added the dimension of breadth as well. In this way, we are able to examine individual systems in detail and also compare them with those that are related in order to uncover common principles that apply across many systems and highlight unusual features that are unique to some. Currently every university offering courses in Biological Sciences around the world also offer Bioinformatics courses as well, as wetlaband insilicolabgohand in hand.