Skip to main content

Computational Biology and Bioinformatics

Integration of computational approaches

Genome projects and high-throughput experimental technologies produce immense amounts of information. Effective use of these data increasingly requires sophisticated computational expertise, and major breakthroughs in biological research will result from the collaborative efforts of experimentalists and computational biologists. ISU has a nationally-recognized program in bioinformatics and computational biology, with the GDCB Department as a major player. Bioinformatics and computational biology also are essential for ISU’s emerging program in the important new field of systems biology, which focuses on integrating knowledge of the functions and interactions of individual components to gain insight into the structure and dynamics of a complete biological system. This approach will be essential to address questions at increasingly complex levels of biological organization and, ultimately, will provide the basis for successful modeling of genetic, metabolic and signal transduction networks.