Computational Biology at the Beginning of the Post-genomic Era

Abstract

The year 2000 will be remembered in history as the year in whichthe human genome has been sequenced. This marks the end of the pre-genomicera which was characterized by strong world-wide efforts to sequencethe human genome and, in fact, ended significantly ahead of schedule.Today, we are at the entry of the probably much longer post-genomicera, which is characterized by the grand quest of making sense ofthe genomic text. This goal can only be achieved by a concerted effortinvolving biological experiments and computer analyses. Conqueringthe computer part is the task of the scientific field of computationalbiology or bioinformatics. Here we will describe two facets of computationalbiology. One is that of a discipline shaped by several grand challengebasic research problems. The other is that of a field driven by astrong demand for immediate answers to pressing practical problemsin biotechnology, notably in pharmaceutics and medicine.