Bioinformatics combines recent development in molecular biology with computer science and statistics. It was developed to cope with the output of genome sequencing initiatives, that result in an ever-increasing amount of data available about DNA, RNA and derived proteins and support systems biology. Bioinformaticians apply information technology to store, retrieve and manipulate these data and employ statistical methods capable of analysing large amounts of biological data to predict gene functions and to demonstrate the relationship between genes and proteins. Besides bioinformatics, students can specialize in systems biology.
