The human genome project has
revolutionized the practice of biology and future potential of
medicine. The draft DNA sequence of the human genome has been
published and complete genomes of other organisms continue to be
sequenced. Meanwhile, high-throughput studies are being
conducted and rapid advances being made in areas such as gene
expression, protein expression, protein structure and function,
metabolic and signaling pathways, and protein-protein
interactions and networks. With the enormous quantity and
variety of data being produced, biology becoming an increasingly
quantitative science. Computational approaches, in combination
with empirical methods, are expected to become essential for
deriving and evaluating hypotheses.
Bioinformatics is an emerging
field where biological and computational disciplines converge.
The field encompasses the development and application of
computational tools and approaches for the collection, analysis,
management, and visualization of biological data, as well as
mathematical modeling and computational simulation techniques
for the study of biological systems. A wide range of
bioinformatics methods have been developed, including sequence
and structural alignment, molecular database design and mining,
phylogenetic tree construction, prediction of protein structure
and function, gene finding, and expression data clustering. The
emphasis is on approaches integrating a variety of computational
methods and heterogeneous data sources for biological knowledge
discovery.
Advances in genomics and
proteomics have highlighted the importance of bioinformatics
approach to biotechnology, drug discovery, and disease
diagnosis. The challenges are to determine the functional
significance of each gene, understand the complex functional
networks and control mechanisms, and figure out the role
genotype and environment play in determining the phenotype. For
example, the genetic variation (polymorphism) and gene
expression profiling data generated by massive genotyping and
DNA microarray studies may help elucidate the genetic basis of
disease susceptibility and drug response. Disease diagnosis is
possible with gene chip technology and statistical clustering
algorithms that are capable of screening and analyzing the
expression of thousands of genes correlated with disease states.
The proteomic data may be translated into workable models or
simulations of cells, pathways, or targets, providing guidance
for target selection and drug development.
The symposium scheduled from
April 5th to April 8th 2004 will bring together an
interdisciplinary panel of experts from bioinformatics, biology,
information science, and statistics to address critical issues,
stimulate ideas and collaborations, strengthen communications
between scientists from Germany and Taiwan. Our participants
will showcase examples of gene mapping methods, gene-expression
profiling analysis, bioinformatics applications in functional
genomics, bioinformatics for metabolic network, pathway
discovery, multi protein system, structural bioinformatics,
algorithms for genome comparison, among other recent
advancements.
The symposium aims at the
identification of research areas with common interests which
could be carried out more effectively in joint projects, putting
together the competencies and experiences of both sites. A
desired result of the initiative is the formulation of proposals
for joint research projects submitted to the corresponding
national funding agencies as DFG and NSC.
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