Final answer:
Bioinformatics is a field that merges biology, statistics, and computer science to manage and analyze data from DNA and RNA sequencing. It is vital for genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and systems biology, and contributes to medical advancements.
Step-by-step explanation:
What is Bioinformatics?
Bioinformatics combines biology, statistics, and computer science to analyze large datasets generated from DNA and RNA sequencing efforts. The emergence of Next-Generation Sequencing technologies has led to exponential growth in biological data, requiring new statistical and computational methods to handle this information. Bioinformatics deals with the sequencing of genomes, gene expression profiling, and macromolecular structure determination. Moreover, genomic and proteomic analyses are a part of systems biology, which considers entire biological systems and their interactions. As the field grows, databases such as GenBank collect DNA sequences, facilitating further research and analysis. Bioinformatics is instrumental in genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics, contributing to medical advancements by analyzing human genomes, developing new drugs, and creating diagnostic tools for diseases.