Fields covered by the Bioinformatics Course

Knowledge science - Research into the discovery of knowledge from life information

The amount of data related to life is enormous, and it continues to increase year by year. By combining this data and applying data mining, machine learning, and other algorithms, this research aims to discover new knowledge and make high-precision predictions possible by using existing knowledge. In addition, other research is conducted into database search methods and into the extraction of knowledge from biomedical literature.

Genetic engineering - Analysis of gene functions with the introduction of mutation

DNA recombination technology has made it possible to purify and clone useful genes such as those for decomposing environmental pollutants and those that provide disease resistance. By making full use of genetic engineering techniques such as artificially introducing mutations to such genes, this research aims to create genes with reduced/increased pollutant decomposition ability, thus making it possible to identify functionally important gene sequences.

Genome science - Development of a comprehensive analysis system for the chemical modification of DNA

One of the most important researches after deciphering of human DNA sequences is to clarify the whole picture of chemical modifications on DNA sequences. Such research is expected to contribute to not only the diagnosis of cancers and other diseases but also the elucidation of causes of individual differences (e.g. fingerprint) between identical twins having the same DNA sequences. Thus, this research attempts to create a foundation system for comprehensively analyzing the chemical modifications on human DNA by making full use of both genetic engineering and information technologies.

Artificial intelligence - Development of intelligent interfaces for announcing plant environmental information

Associations are made between the state of a plant and portions of a face, and the portions vary online in terms of size, shape, and color in accordance with their respective state values, to constitute a face, which is dynamically output to a display unit, so that the state of the plant can be determined at a glance. For example, if the plant is running short of water, the face looks emaciated. If the plant is hot, the face turns red. The displayed face follows the eye of the operator, and communication functions using artificial intelligence can be attached to provide healing effects.

• Artificial Intelligence Lab.
• Bioinformatics Lab.
• Genome informatics Lab.