Table of Contents

I How does bioinformatics work?.- 1 Sequence analysis: deciphering the language of life.- 2 Magic RNA.- 3 Genomes - molecular maps of living organisms.- 4 Modeling metabolism and finding new antibiotics.- 5 Systems biology and uncovering the causes of disease. II How do I understand bioinformatics?"- 6 Superfast sequence comparisons identify which molecules are present.- 7 Better understand signaling cascades by measuring encoded information.- 8 When does a computer stop computing?"- 9 Complex systems behave in fundamentally similar ways.- 10 Better compare evolution with a computer.- 11 Design principles of a cell. III What is the magical, fascinating thing about bioinformatics?.- 12 Life is always developing new information in dialogue with the environment.- 13 Life is always inventing new levels of language.- 14 We can think about ourselves - the computer cannot.- 15 How is our own, extremely powerful brain built?.- 16 Bioinformatics connects life with the universe and all the rest.- 17 Conclusion. 17 Concluding remarks and summary.- IV Glossary, tutorial, solutions and web links.- 18 Glossary.- 19 Tutorial: an overview of important databases and programs.- 20 Solutions to the exercises.- Appendix: overview of important databases and programs and their general use.- Index.

About the Author

Thomas Dandekar is Chair of Bioinformatics at the University of Würzburg.

Meik Kunz is Academic Councillor at the Chair of Medical Informatics at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg