Summary
Objective
To summarize current excellent research in the field of bioinformatics.
Method
Synopsis of the articles selected for the IMIA Yearbook 2006. Results: Current research in the field of bioinformatics clearly shows ongoing unification
of experimental findings and clinical outcomes. Microarray data, gene sequences and
clinical data are more and more perceived as different but related facets of one entity.
Significant work is done in the area of text and data mining in order to bring together
patient data and biochemical phenomena by means of ontologies. A strong trend in the
clinical field is performance of exhaustive studies on DNA material derived from patients
that suffer from diseases that are already known to be inherited. Examination of appropriate
methods covers data and text mining, ontologies as well as machine learning and classification.
Conclusions
The best paper selection of articles on bioinformatics shows examples of excellent
research on methods used for studying inherited diseases and their underlying genetic
dispositions. Clinical studies, inclusion of experimental findings like microarray
data, and of knowledge representation formats all lead to a better understanding the
linkage between gene sequences, biological functions and clinical findings in the
form of healthy state or physiological disorders.
Keywords
Medical Informatics - International Medical Informatics Association - Yearbook - Bioinformatics