New directions in bioinformatics research include synthetic biology and visual analytics. Synthetic biology is a growing field of bioinformatics research. The redesign of biological systems and component parts for useful and practical purposes has many parallels to the electronics industry. Standardized, integrated electronic parts, devices and tools have enabled a well-developed, mature industry. Advocates of synthetic biology similarly champion development of tools and processes that will enable standardized, integrated biological parts and devices to create synthetic genomes. While synthetic biology requires a revolution in tools and technology, these approaches may address significant challenges in healthcare, energy and the environment.

 

The Artemisinin Project uses synthetic biology to make safe, effective anti-malarial medicines accessible to people in developing countries. Representatives from academia, biotechnology, pharmaceutical and the nonprofit sector are developing semi-synthetic artemisinin because the natural source, tree bark, is too expensive for extensive use. Other synthetic biology efforts involve research to generate energy-rich fuels by engineering the enzymes that are part of the pathways that create these molecules, insert them into bacteria and grow them on a large scale.   

 

Visual analytics is a new, emerging field. Although all sciences are improving the ability to collect and analyze information, new tools are required to analyze massive, complex, incomplete and uncertain worldwide information. IEEE recognizes this challenge and in 2006 founded the Symposium on Visual Analytics Science and Technology. It focuses on the R&D agenda for visual analytics developed under the leadership of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to define the directions and priorities for future R&D programs focused on visual analytics tools.

 

lEEE defines visual analytics as "the science of analytical reasoning supported by highly interactive visual interfaces. People use visual analytics tools and techniques to synthesize information into knowledge; derive insight from massive, dynamic and often conflicting data; detect the expected and discover the unexpected; provide timely, defensible and understandable assessments; and communicate assessments effectively for action." This interdisciplinary science includes statistics, mathematics, knowledge representation, management and discovery technologies, cognitive and perceptual sciences, decision sciences and more.   

 

The advances in bioinformatics research in some ways parallel history. In the 16th century, Tycho Brahe collected precise measurements on the positions of planets. Johannes Kepler made Tycho's data more meaningful by using it to develop his laws of planetary motion. Sir Isaac Newton extended the value further by developing principles of physics, such as universal gravitation and laws of motion.   

 

While Newton's principles intuitively match everyday experience, Albert Einstein's 20th century discoveries pushed science into the non-intuitive realm. Now bioinformatics research is tackling data complexity and interrelatedness that describe a new world. We don't have the answers yet, but we are getting in touch with the right questions.  

 

Bioinformatics research gives us new glimpses of processes that have been going on for millions of years, the billions of molecular events happening in our bodies that enable us to function. People who will reduce this data to laws and principles to explain them will make great steps forward.

 

Darlene J.S. Solomon is chief technology officer for Agilent Technologies in Santa Clara, Calif. She holds a B.S. degree in chemistry from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in bioinorganic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.