3. The Bioinformatics Organization, Inc.

This organization serves the scientific and educational needs of bioinformatic practitioners and the general public. It develops and maintains computational resources to facilitate world-wide communications and collaborations between people of all educational and professional levels.

		The organization provides and promotes open access to the materials and methods required for, and derived from, research, development and education.
For more information go to: http://www.bioinformatics.org/about/

The Importance of Biobanking

A biobank is a repository for collections of biological materials such as blood, serum, tissue, and DNA, as well as medical history and lifestyle information from representative portions of the human population. It is critically important that these biobanks be tied to information about individual health, treatment and outcome so researchers can begin to draw conclusions.

Using the information stored in biobanks, researchers can investigate why some people develop particular diseases while others do not. They can consider how each person's lifestyle, environment, and genes impact the progression of particular illnesses. With the knowledge of how disease is triggered, scientists are better able to identify potential diagnosis and treatment strategies.

Biobanks are found in a variety of organizations. They can exist inside academic medical institutions as well as pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, or they can operate as independent organizations delivering biological materials to researchers. The safe and secure transfer of this demographic information is paramount, so biobanks must have a comprehensive policy in place to ensure that they meet the needs of biomedical researchers without violating donors' rights.

CISN Summary

Bioinformatics has transformed the discipline of biology from a purely lab-based science to an information science as well.

Increasingly, biological studies begin with a scientist conducting vast numbers of database and web site searches to formulate specific hypotheses or design large-scale experiments. The implications behind this change, for both science and medicine, are staggering.

The rapidly emerging field of bioinformatics promises to lead to advances in understanding basic biological processes and, in turn, advances in:

• The diagnosis
• Treatment
• Prevention of many genetic diseases.