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Opinion
Bioinformatics: perspectives for the future
Luciano da Fontoura Costa
Cybernetic Vision Research Group, Institute of Physics at São Carlos, University of São Paulo,
Caixa Postal 369, 13560-970 São Carlos, SP, Brazil
Corresponding author: L. da F. Costa
E-mail: [email protected]
Genet. Mol. Res. 3 (4): 564-574 (2004)
Received October 4, 2004
Accepted December 10, 2004
Published December 30, 2004

ABSTRACT. I give here a very personal perspective of Bioinformatics and its future, starting by discussing the origin of the term (and area) of bioinformatics and proceeding by trying to foresee the development of related issues, including pattern recognition/data mining, the need to reintegrate biology, the potential of complex networks as a powerful and flexible framework for bioinformatics and the interplay between bio- and neuroinformatics. Human resource formation and market perspective are also addressed. Given the complexity and vastness of these issues and concepts, as well as the limited size of a scientific article and finite patience of the reader, these perspectives are surely incomplete and biased. However, it is expected that some of the questions and trends that are identified will motivate discussions during the IcoBiCoBi round table (with the same name as this article) and perhaps provide a more ample perspective among the participants of that conference and the readers of this text.

Key words: Bioinformatics, Post-genomics, Modeling, Computing, Physics

 

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