what is bioinformatics?

Bioinformatics has evolved into a full-fledged multidisciplinary subject that integrates developments in information and computer technology as applied to biotechnology and biological Sciences.

Roughly, bioinformatics describes any use of computers to handle biological information. In practice the definition used by most people is narrower; bioinformatics to them is a synonym for “computational molecular biology”- the use of computers to characterize the molecular components of living things.

The NIH Biomedical Information Science and Technology Initiative Consortium computational tools andapproaches for expanding the use of biological, medical, agreed on the following definitions of bioinformatics as research, development, or application of behavioral or health data, including those to acquire, store, organize, archive, analyze, or visualize such data.

The National Center for Biotechnology Information defines bioinformatics as “Bioinformatics is the field of science in which biology, computer science, and information technology merge into a single discipline.There are three important sub-disciplines within bioinformatics: the development of new algorithms and statistics with which to assess relationships among members of large data sets; the analysis and interpretation of various types of data including nucleotide and amino acid sequences, protein domains, and protein structures; and the development and implementation of tools that enable efficient access and management of different types of information.”

(Molecular) bio – informatics: bioinformatics is conceptualising biology in terms of molecules (in the sense of Physical chemistry) and applying “informatics techniques” (derived from disciplinessuch as applied maths, computer science and statistics) to understand andorganise the information associatedwith these molecules, on a large scale. Inshort, bioinformatics is a managementinformation system for molecular biology and has many practical applications.

References:
1. What is bioinformatics? A proposed definition and overview of the field. NM Luscombe,
D Greenbaum, M Gerstein (2001) Methods Inf Med 40: 346-58
2. http://www.bisti.nih.gov/
3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/About/primer/bioinformatics.html
4. http://www.geocities.com/bioinformaticsweb/definition.html