Computational biology

Abstract

The past decade has witnessed the emergence of computational biology, in many forms, as a discipline in its own right. The application of mathematical and computational tools to all areas of biology is producing exciting results and providing insights into biological problems too complex for traditional analysis. In all areas of the life sciences, computational tools - from databases to computational models - have become commonplace in all laboratory settings. There is not a pharmaceutical or biotechnology company that does not have a computational biology or informatics group. Likewise, computational biology has emerged as an established academic field. Talent shortages and the inherent interdisciplinary nature of the field, however, have limited the rate of development of the academic sector.