The Importance of Bioinformatics in Cancer Studies

Almost every day, many new information, studies and articles take place in scientific databases (such as PUBMED, Web of Science, Google Scholar and Google Scholar). Thus, a very large and very large information bank has been formed.

Bioinformatics is the study and processing of biological information with computer support. Bioinformatics, an interdisciplinary science, develops, organizes and analyzes biological data storage techniques and retrieval techniques. Bioinformatics was first used by Paulien Hogeweg in 1970 during the study of the knowledge of living systems. Then, in 2001, its importance began to emerge with the announcement of the human genome project. The acceptance of bioinformatics, which separated from molecular biology in the 1970s as a separate science in the 1990s, was realized with the need arising from the rapidly increasing amount of data and the possibilities offered by the rapidly rising computer technology.

Thanks to the databases containing scientific information, it has become very easy for us to reach the answers of the hypotheses we have formed from the existing information without the need for any additional laboratory work. However, additional bioinformatics studies are needed for this data to have scientific value. The importance of bioinformatics especially in health fields such as medicine, biology and bioengineering is an undeniable fact. It is known that this available information plays a role in revealing the biological basis of diseases. Pioneering medicine can tell us what should be done in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of this disease by looking at the molecular characteristics of a patient's disease, based on the existing information.

In cancer studies, very detailed information can be obtained with new methods discovered thanks to new generation technologies. However, it is a fact that those who cannot reach these methods have problems while reading these studies. Because after the experiments are done in these new methods, you need to reveal the results with various bioinformatics methods. Therefore, our ability to see the quality of this information depends on your bioinformatics memory. Because bioinformatics studies provide us with such incredible data that it is sometimes difficult to even construct. For example, bioinformatics imaging analysis can sometimes give complex shapes of a protein synthesized from a gene or sometimes show the fate of a molecule that binds to DNA. Thanks to these analyzes, scientists can easily show which anomalies cause which disease. However, sometimes it is even possible to see the location and effect of a mutation in the gene involved in a cancer case. To summarize briefly, defining the tumor is the job of experts / technicians in the wet laboratory and the job of bioinformatics in the dry laboratory.

In cancer studies, it only takes a small scientific way to reveal a genetic (mutation, amplification, etc.) or epigenetic (methylation, acetylation, phosphorylation) abnormality with a DNA sequence analysis or a microarray study. However, revealing the underlying factors of the abnormality will add value to the value of that study. Bioinformatics analyzes are needed to reveal the importance of the detected abnormality in cancer diagnosis, treatment or prognosis. Scientific studies can be a problem that mostly concerns the location. Therefore, it is only possible with bioinformatics to reveal a worldwide picture of what you find.

As a result, we know that no matter how much bioinformatics looks like a dress standing on a person, that dress also has varieties, subtleties and features. Everyone tries to find and buy the one that fits, suits and best. There are many different types of bioinformatics methods (such as COSMIC, Oncomire, FIREHOSE, cBioportal). If you choose the appropriate, correct and most importantly reliable one for your work, then your work will have a value.

Posted with STEMGeeks