The Bioinformatics Missing Link: A Systems Approach to Personalised Medicine and Food Security

Bioinformatics applies information communication technologies to the allied fields of agriculture, horticulture, forestry, biotechnology, microbiology, plant physiology, molecular biology. It is essential in a range of biomedical, personalised medicine and molecular therapy research. In essence, bioinformatics devises strategies for data management, analysis and integration tools that enable rapid scientific discovery and informed decision making. Surprisingly, in a food security context, we still find that data/reports of interpretations/treatments when potential pathogen incursions are encountered on a farm are not integrated. It can still take up to two years to determine if an imported horticultural plant variety contains viruses before it can be released from quarantine. In human rare disease with over 6000 diseases there are few coordinated global approaches for data capture, diagnosis and treatment necessary to inform complex human disorders research. Unfortunately, data is still captured and managed in disparate formats: field/laboratory books, spreadsheets maintained independently by growers or clinicians, extension officers and scientists, located in geographically disperse locations (e.g. farms, offices, hospitals, institutions, archival repositories). Bioinformatics solutions should provide a more coordinated electronic basis to integrate information across supply chains. In this talk, I outline our bioinformatics projects that cut across both biomedical and agricultural domains. In doing so, I articulate the role bioinformatics plays in each research project: either in a support role, as an enabler or as a driver. I demonstrate that a systems approach to bioinformatics is necessary to delivery viable outcomes in any chosen life science activity.