Editing Bioinformatics (section)

== Goals ==
In order to study how normal cellular activities are altered in different disease states, raw biological data must be combined to form a comprehensive picture of these activities. Therefore{{When|date=June 2023}}, the field of bioinformatics has evolved such that the most pressing task now involves the analysis and interpretation of various types of data. This also includes nucleotide and [[amino acid sequence]]s, [[protein domain]]s, and [[protein structure]]s.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Essential Bioinformatics|url=https://archive.org/details/essentialbioinfo00xion|url-access=limited| vauthors = Xiong J |publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-511-16815-4|location=Cambridge, United Kingdom|pages=[https://archive.org/details/essentialbioinfo00xion/page/n13 4]|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

Important sub-disciplines within bioinformatics and [[computational biology]] include:
* Development and implementation of computer programs to efficiently access, manage, and use various types of information.
* Development of new mathematical algorithms and statistical measures to assess relationships among members of large data sets. For example, there are methods to locate a [[gene]] within a sequence, to predict protein structure and/or function, and to [[Cluster analysis|cluster]] protein sequences into families of related sequences.

The primary goal of bioinformatics is to increase the understanding of biological processes. What sets it apart from other approaches is its focus on developing and applying computationally intensive techniques to achieve this goal. Examples include: [[pattern recognition]], [[data mining]], [[machine learning]] algorithms, and [[Biological Data Visualization|visualization]]. Major research efforts in the field include [[sequence alignment]], [[gene finding]], [[genome assembly]], [[drug design]], [[drug discovery]], [[protein structural alignment|protein structure alignment]], [[protein structure prediction]], prediction of [[gene expression]] and [[protein–protein interaction]]s, [[genome-wide association studies]], the modeling of [[evolution]] and [[Cellular model|cell division/mitosis.]]

Bioinformatics 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.

Over the past few decades, rapid developments in genomic and other molecular research technologies and developments in [[information technologies]] have combined to produce a tremendous amount of information related to molecular biology. Bioinformatics is the name given to these mathematical and computing approaches used to glean understanding of biological processes.

Common activities in bioinformatics include mapping and analyzing [[DNA]] and protein sequences, aligning DNA and protein sequences to compare them, and creating and viewing 3-D models of protein structures.