bioinformatics
Meaning of bioinformatics: Bioinformatics applies computing, statistics, and database science to organize and interpret large volumes of biological and medical information.
Definition of bioinformatics
Bioinformatics is a field that applies computer science, statistics, and mathematics to organize, store, and analyze large amounts of biological and medical information. The information involved can come from many sources, including genetic sequencing data, tissue and laboratory specimens, patient health records, and results generated during clinical research.
Because modern research and clinical testing can generate enormous volumes of data, particularly genetic sequence information, bioinformatics tools are essential for identifying meaningful patterns within that data, such as a genetic variant associated with a particular disease or a pattern of gene activity relevant to how a tumor behaves.
Bioinformatics supports many areas of medicine and research, including genetic testing, drug development, and the broader effort to understand disease at a molecular level, by making it possible to process and interpret data at a scale that would not be practical to analyze by hand.
Used in a sentence
Bioinformatics analysis of the tumor's genetic sequencing data identified several mutations of interest.
Good to know
Bioinformatics provides the tools to process large biological datasets, but interpreting what a specific finding means for an individual generally still requires review by a clinician or genetic specialist familiar with the particular result.