Challenges and New Approaches in Genomics and Bioinformatics

Abstract

In conclusion, the seemingly fuzzy and disorganized data of biology with thousands of different layers ranging from molecule to the Internet have refused so far to be mapped precisely and predicted successfully by mathematicians, physicists or computer scientists. Genomics and bioinformatics are the fields that process such complex data. The insights on the nature of biological entities as complex interaction networks are opening a door toward a generalization of the representation of biological entities. The main challenge of genomics and bioinformatics now lies in 1) how to data mine the networks of the domains of bioinformatics, namely, the literature, metabolic pathways, and proteome and structures, in terms of interaction; and 2) how to generalize the networks in order to integrate the information into computable genomic data for computers regardless of the levels of layer. Once bioinformatists succeed to find a general principle on the way components interact each other to form any organic interaction network at genomic scale, true simulation and prediction of life in silico will be possible.