Computational biology

Computational biology involves the development and application of data-analytical and theoretical methods, mathematical modeling and computational simulation techniques to the study of biological, behavioral, and social systems.^[1] The field is widely defined and includes foundations in computer science, applied mathematics, statistics, biochemistry, chemistry, biophysics, molecular biology, genetics, ecology, evolution, anatomy, neuroscience, and visualization.^[2]

Centers/Institutions and leading providers of Computational Biology Resources

• National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)
• European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI)
• European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)
• Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (WTSI) or The Sanger
• Broad Institute
• Whitehead Institute
• The Institute for Genomic Research
• Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering
• Netherlands Bioinformatics Centre
• COSBI - The Centre for Computational and Systems Biology
• T4G Limited - Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Consulting

Professional Societies and Relevant Organizations

• International Society for Computational Biology
• bioinformatics.org

Relevant Journals

• (BMC) Algorithms for Molecular Biology
• Bioinformatics (formerly Computer Applications in the Biosciences)
• BMC Bioinformatics
• BMC Genomics
• BMC Systems Biology
• Genome Biology
• Genomics
• Genome Research
• Database (journal)
• Journal of Computational Biology
• Nucleic Acids Research
• PLoS Computational Biology
• PLoS ONE
• Statistical Applications in Genetics and Molecular Biology

Notable Conferences in Computational Biology

• Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB)
• European Conference on Computational Biology (ECCB)
• Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing (PSB)
• International Conference on Research in Computational Molecular Biology (RECOMB)

Notable Bioinformatics/Computational Biology Databases

• Ensembl
• UCSC Genome Browser
• InterPro
• Pfam
• OMIM
• Superfamily
• CATH
• SCOP
• Protein Data Bank
• DECIPHER

Subfields

Computational biomodeling

Main article: Modelling biological systems

Computational biomodeling, a field concerned with building computer models of biological systems.

Computational genomics

Main article: Computational genomics

Computational genomics, a field within genomics which studies the genomes of cells and organisms. High-throughput genome sequencing produces lots of data, which requires extensive post-processing (sequence assembly) and uses DNA microarray technologies to perform statistical analyses on the genes expressed in individual cell types. This can help find genes of interest for certain diseases or conditions. This field also studies the mathematical foundations of sequencing. Advances in many areas of genomics research are heavily rooted in engineering technology, from the capillary electrophoresis units used in large-scale DNA sequencing projects.

Computational neuroscience

Main article: Computational neuroscience

Computational neuroscience is the study of brain function in terms of the information processing properties of the structures that make up the nervous system.

Computational biology vs. Bioinformatics

Main article: Bioinformatics

Bioinformatics and computational biology are rooted in life sciences as well as computer and information sciences and technologies. Both of these interdisciplinary approaches draw from specific disciplines such as mathematics, physics, statistics, computer science and engineering, biology, and behavioral science. Bioinformatics and computational biology each maintain close interactions with life sciences to realize their full potential. Bioinformatics applies principles of information sciences and technologies to make the vast, diverse, and complex life sciences data more understandable and useful. Computational biology uses mathematical and computational approaches to address theoretical and experimental questions in biology. Although bioinformatics and computational biology are distinct, there is also significant overlap and activity at their interface.^[1]

Another opinion is that Bioinformatics relates to anything to do with analysis, visualization and management of biological sequences, while Computational Biology refers to that plus everything else that involves computers in the solving of biological problems.

See also

Related fields

• Bioinformatics
• Biostatistics
• Computational science
• Computer simulation
• Mathematical biology
• Molecular modeling
• Network Biology
• Structural genomics
• Synthetic biology
• Systems biology

References

1. ^ ^{a b} http://www.bisti.nih.gov/docs/compubiodef.pdf
2. ^ http://www.brown.edu/Research/CCMB/undergraduate.htm