Bioinformatics: From Nucleic Acids and Proteins to Cell Metabolism

The term bioinformatics has two quite distinct meanings. It may describe information handling in living organisms, and it is widely used for the application of computer science to biological problems. It is this second area which is covered in this book. Whereas the first development of these methods stems from the sixties and seventies, it is only recently that biologists, chemists and computer scientists have channelled their expertise into large scale collaborative projects aimed at the advancement in this exciting area. Government programmes started, for example in Germany and the UK, have provided extra money for joint projects involving computer scientists and biologists. Together with the rapid progress in modem biology and biotechnology, we can expect to see wide-ranging new developments in bioinformatics in the years to come.