Bioinformatics

How it is used

The name of a research field, a job (bioinformatician) and a team (the bioinformatics core). Typical tasks are read alignment, variant calling, gene expression analysis and building pipelines, often in Python, R and Linux. Like 'genomics', it takes a singular verb.

Example sentences

1. The bioinformatics team will process the raw data and send us a list of variants.

2. You don't need to be a programmer, but basic bioinformatics skills are expected.

Common collocations

• bioinformatics analysis
• bioinformatics pipeline
• bioinformatics tools
• bioinformatics core

Related terms

• alignmentArranging DNA, RNA or protein sequences side by side to find where they match, or placing sequencing reads in the right position on a reference genome.
• variant callingThe bioinformatics step that compares aligned reads with a reference genome to find where a sample's DNA differs, producing a list of variants.
• pipelineA series of connected software steps that process data automatically, for example from raw sequencing reads to a final list of annotated variants.
• BLASTBasic Local Alignment Search Tool: a widely used program that compares a DNA or protein sequence with large databases to find similar sequences.
• genomicsThe branch of science that studies whole genomes, including their structure, function and evolution, usually with large-scale sequencing and computer analysis.

More terms: Bioinformatics

• annotation
• FASTQ
• accession number
• phylogenetic tree