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Technology and Biology/Medicine
Technology is evident in almost all aspects in life. It is used at work, at school, and even at play. With the amount of new technologies that come out every year, biology can be melded with technology in order to process information quicker to understand biology. Bioinformatics is exactly what this is: the science of using information to understand biology. Biologists use bioinformatics to, for example, compare DNA sequences and help determine the function of new proteins. Through this website, one will leave with a few softwares used in biology.
How Bioinformatics is Used
Bioinformatics relies heavily on the analysis of data and patterns within these data samples. The use of algorithms, databases, user interfaces, and statistical tools makes it possible for biologists to do things such as generate results from comparing DNA sequences. Applications such as visualizing and computing structural properties of proteins are possible through the knowledge of different softwares.
Three Software Used in Biology
Perl - Practical Extraction and Reporting Language
Perl language is used by computational biologists. This program is an interpreted language which means that it does not need to be compiled in order to run. The commands are sent to the Perl interpreter and execute the commands. This program is useful because it 1) stores enormous databases and text files which is the majority of biological data, and 2) Perl allows for a smooth integration of codes that are in a Unix-based systems and cross-platform portability. When set up properly Perl can read data files, search for character strings, performing calculations and giving the findings to the user.
Gepasi
Gepasi is a "use-friendly biochemical kinetics simulator for Windows/NT that can model systems of up to 45 metabolites an 45 rate equations" (Jambeck, 326). This interface can create different interactive tools to create different biological models. These models can be from entering chemical reactions, adding metabolites that can either inhibit or be effectors in a reaction, and setting different metabolite concentrations. This is very important because the interface can be used to see the product to different equations without spending money on the actual products. These can help researchers with the questions they have now and generating new hypothesis.
Building Biological Databases
More and more scientists want programs simple enough so tat they are able to share their data with the scientific community without having to go through much hassle. This would allow other scientists to have direct access to their databases. There are two main types of databases and another database which is becoming more popular. The two main ones are flat file databases and relational database management systems (RDBMS). The flat file system is just like filing data in a filing cabinet. The data in a flat file database is ordered and indexed for use. In relational database, rather than the data being stored in one big text file, it is stored in a collection of tables. An example of RDBMS in biology is being able to view the protein structure as a whole, allowing the data to be seen from different views without going through the entire database to get to what you need. The final database is object-oriented database. This particular database can hold more complex objects and can handle the interaction of multiple clients.
Web sites
Perl Software
Oracle
Protein Machine
Topology Cartoon