Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2001

Informing Life and Informed by Life Bioinformatics I n 1992, experts in the Department of Biochemistry a t the University embarked on systematic research into cardiovascular expressed genes. They spent two full years before identifying one gene that is related to cardiovascular growth, and did not expect to find the family members of this gene in the next half year. Then, as fate would have it, they stumbled upon a similar partial gene sequence in an overseas genetic database on the Internet. Afte r a week of computer analysis and processing, the second related gene was found, 20 times faster than expected. This is precisely how bioinformatics comes in useful. Bioinformatics is a new science which combines DNA sequencing data, computer applications, statistics, and mathematics in the study of the life sc i ences . It also involves the comp i l a t i on , handling, ana l ys i s, and interpretation of massive DNA sequencing data which are essential to the discovery of new drugs , vaccines, and cures that save lives. Chinese University Bulleti n S p r i n g • Summer 2 0 00 28