The Biology Department at United Arab Emirates University organized
the first Bioinformatics workshop led by Dr. Ranjit Vijayan, Assistant
Professor of Bioinformatics, Department of Biology and Dr. Nazar Zaki,
Associate Professor of Intelligent Systems, College of IT. The workshop
was designed to equip students with skills far beyond the realm of
traditional biology laboratories. Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary
field that brings together concepts from computer science, mathematics
and statistics to study problems in biology.
Dr. Khaled Amiri, Chairman of the Department of
Biology welcomed the students and spoke about how the field of
bioinformatics has evolved from being accessible to a privileged few
during his days as a graduate student to its current form where it is
accessible to everyone.
“The amount of biological data that is available
to scientists is astounding. The best part is that almost all of it is
completely free. These information-rich resources are spread across a
diverse and interlinked set of databases and tools that are available
online at the click of a button. Vast repositories hold information
about the genome of several organisms and the thousands of proteins they
encode. Everyday, scientists use these resources in an attempt to find
solutions to devastating genetic disorders,” said Dr. Amiri.
Unlocking the secrets of DNA - the molecule of
life - requires equipping students with bioinformatics skills.
Bioinformatics is a new field in the UAE.
An introductory one-day workshop was organized
for the students of UAEU to increase the awareness of what can be
achieved using bioinformatics. Students explored the sequence, structure
and function of DNA and proteins that are available in bioinformatics
databases. Equipped with this, they investigated how mutations can lead
to a range of disorders including sickle-cell anemia, cystic fibrosis,
thalassemia and cancer, to name a few.
The event was organized by the Biology Club.
Following the success of the first event, further workshops are being
planned to cover more topics and to include schools and universities
from across the UAE.
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