Bioinformatics IR - etude de marche

There is little doubt that biology is going large-scale. Great leaps in high throughput

technologies fueled by the genome sequencing projects, gene expression analysis

and proteomics, to name but a few, have resulted in a veritable explosion in the

amount of biological data that is generated, literally, on a daily basis. Bioinformatics

is the discipline of biology that has evolved to gather, store and manage in specialized

databanks the vast amounts of biological data, which it then mines for knowledge.

Together with the internet explosion, bioinformatics is revolutionizing the way

biological research is carried out today.

In the post-genomic era, bioinformatics has become a fast-paced reality that

few can afford to ignore. Not surprisingly, practitioners are increasingly using

bioinformatics tools and approaches in a wide spectrum of drug discovery and

development tasks in an effort to understand basic biological and disease mechanisms,

identify new targets and to select and design novel candidates that will lead

to effective therapies.

The power of bioinformatics is such that new players are entering the field

from many related fields: biomedicine, biotechnology, information technology

and instrumentation. Each brings a unique angle to a very complex problem and

as a result there is increased collaboration and technology fusion in an effort

to accelerate and make more efficient the highly competitive discovery and development

process. This has created a new breed of companies that are becoming increasingly

visible and sought after in the biotech world.

But what is bioinformatics and how can a company best come to grips with it?

Pick up this report and you will find out:

* What is bioinformatics and why it has risen to such prominence

* What are the important tools and techniques used in bioinformatics

* What are the major databases and how they are organized

* Where can bioinformatics be used effectively in the drug development process

* Who are the leading companies and what kinds of business collaborations they

are pursuing

* What are the major issues concerning bioinformatics, its present and future

applications

This Biovista Industry Review aims to be used as a guide and a tool by the

practitioners who are considering bioinformatics either as a business opportunity

or as a source of critical technologies for their organization.