Computational Biology Research
September 6, 2022
What is a genome/DNA and why is it important to know?
DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) are polymers of nucleotides that encode genetic information,
and they are formed by two strands in a double helix shape. They are important as they store
the information needed to make living organisms what they are.
Does CS have a significant role to play in studying why we are tall, organized, athletic, or healthy?
DNA can store up to 215 petabytes worth of data, so CS plays a significant role in studying DNA.
CS is used to store and analyze these large amounts of data that would otherwise be too difficult
for humans to manually analyze.
What are some of the important questions in biology and medicine that can be addressed with computer science?
Biological structures such as DNA and the human brain have large amounts of data, so computer
science can be used to create accurate models of these structures.
Is it enough to study humans and the human genome?
It is likely not enough to study only humans. According to the theory of evolution, all life
share common ancestry so it could be important to know other species’ genes which are closely
related to human genes for the purpose of testing medicine or technology.
Is the industry interested in computational biology, or is it largely academic research?
There have been many big companies such as Google and Microsoft that have invested in
computational biology, so it is not only academic research but a growing industry.
Links to sources used:
DNA Wikipedia
Storing information and DNA data
CMU Computational Biology
Further Reading:
What is Computational Biology?
Britannica Computational Biology
Bioinformatics vs Computational Biology