DINOSAURS COME ALIVE

Bioinformatics In The News

Proteomics?

Genomics?

Bioinformatics?

What does that mean to me?

 What is Bioinformatics?

Bioinformatics = Biology + Information

Biology is becoming an information science.

Computational methods are necessary to analyze

the Massive amount of information that are coming
out of the genome projects.
 4

Bioinformatics is
Another Revolution in Biology

Molecular Biology
Physics & Chemistry, 1950s Biochemistry
Biophysics
Biology

Computer Sci. & Statistics, 1970s

Bioinformatics
 What is Bioinformatics?
Easy Answer -
Using computers to solve
molecular biology problems
Hard Answer -
Bioinformatics is the integration of mathematics,
statistics, informatics, physics and biological sciences
for the analysis of biochemical, genetic and other
related biological data.
 Bioinformatics Topics
Computational Biology
Post-Genome Applications
Bioinformatics and medicine
Bioinformatics and biodiversity
Bioengineering
Gene Expression
Gene Network
Sequence Analysis
Structure Network
molecular Evolution
Information Content of Biological Systems
What part of your computer stores information
in the most concentrated form?
Stores the most info, in the least amount of space.

Memory Chips Hard Disk Bacteria

• DNA
Thecontains
DNA inthe a cell is
instructions
packed intoneeded
an for a DNA double helix
living organism to grow and
elaborate, multilevel
function. “Beads
Histones

Itsystem ofexactly
coiling on a
tells cells what string”
role they should play in
and folding
the body. It holds
instructions to make your:
•Heart cells beat. Nucleosome
•Limbs form in the
correct place.
•Immune system fight
infection.
•Digestive system Tight helical fiber
Supercoil
digest your dinner.

Sister
chromatids Figure 8.4
Centromere
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
 in silico Biology

in vivo, in vitro, …….. in silico

Bioinformatics is not just using a computer

to store data, or speed up biology

With bioinformatics, you do biological

hypothesis testing on a computer

 Why Learn Bioinformatics?

Bioinformatics provides a set of tools that is essential

in modern biomedical research (or other research
using biological molecules).

And also ….
 Basic Science Motivation

Bioinformatics will provide new insights

into biological function

Bioinformatics techniques have reinforced that

• Simple organisms are models for more complex systems

• DNA & Protein similarities illustrate evolutionary history
• Gene variation in populations are important for drug discovery
• Genetic data has important personal and social implications
• Noncoding DNA is important for gene control
 Pharmaceutical Motivation

Speed up drug discovery pipeline

Drug Discovery 10,000 candidates
10 preclinical
5 clinical
1 New Drug

The goal is to weed out bad candidates quickly and

cheaply Approximate cost for a new drug = $150-800
Million
Pharmacogenomics

Everybody is different
The Right Drug

To The Right Patient

For The Right Disease

At The Right Time

 Goals of Pharmacogenomics

“Genetic data will allow drugs to be tailored to certain groups of

patients

Customized pharmaceuticals may eliminate life-threatening

adverse reactions

Reduced costs of clinical trials

Improved demonstrated efficacy of drugs

Better matching patients to drugs instead of “trial and error”

                                                                                                                            

                           

Dinosaur cloning seemed to be just around the

corner. In the film,Jurassic Park scientists
extracted dinosaur DNA from blood found in a
mosquito trapped in amber millions of years
ago.

So will T-Rex walk again?

NO!
DNA only survives for about 10,000 years
 May be
Woolly Mammoth!

• Known as: Jarkov Woolly Mammoth

Appearance: elephant-sized with small ears

and coarse, thick red-brown hair

Died: 20,000+ years ago, aged about 47

Found: Siberia

Closest living relative: Asian elephant

 A team based at the Australian
Museum in Sydney is hoping to
clone the animal from a baby
thylacine found stored in alcohol.
 HUMAN CLONING?
"I think you have to be ill to use this on humans.“
Ian Wilmut One of the creators of Dolly the Sheep.

To allow an infertile couple to have a child

To bring back a child killed in an accident

To replicate the talents of exceptional human

beings
To obtain a supply of stem cells
Last but not least

Understanding
contemporary
literature

Using bioinformatics
techniques to identify a
genetically engineered
bioweapon.
 Big Biology
Biology used to be a “cottage industry”.
Small groups, working independently.

No longer.
Some projects in biology are starting to look like
physics and space projects.
High Throughput
High Tech
Multinational Interdisciplinary
Collaborations
Million Dollar Budgets
Biological Computation vs.
Machine Computation
Interdisciplinary Technology

Biological Physical
Science Sciences
Biosensors

Bioinformatics Nanotechs

Information What is at the

Sciences junction of all
three scientific
disciplines?
 What do you need to know?

It all depends on your background

Are you a … ?
Biologist with some computer knowledge, or

Computer scientist with some biology

knowledge

Few do both well

 How is Bioinformatics Used?

Bioinformatics isn’t going to replace

lab work anytime soon

Experimental proof is still the

“Gold Standard”.

Bioinformatics is used to help “focus”

the experiments of the benchtop biologist

One goal is to eliminate false positives that can waste time and
money pursuing false leads.
What’s Left To Do?
 Modeling Cellular Function

Reductionist Integrative
Approach Approach

TACATGGAC
TGATACATA
GCCTAGGTC

20th Century
21st Century
Biology
Biology
 Computer Model of Human Cell

The ultimate goal is the creation of a model of an

entire organism, but first you have to model the
individual cells.
 Who Offers Bioinformatics?

Local Public/Private Universities

OR
You may do it in US
THANKYOU