Bioinformaticians

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals engaged in computational analysis of biological data to uncover patterns and insights
2. Professionals who apply computer science and statistics to interpret biological data such as genetic sequences
3. Scientists specializing in using algorithms and software to analyze large sets of biological information

Etymology: Bioinformatician is a modern compound, built from "bio-" and "informatician." The first part, "bio-," comes from the Ancient Greek "bíos," meaning life, and entered English as a combining form in scientific vocabulary. The second part, "informatician," is itself a formation from "informatic," the English adjective derived from "information," with the suffix "-ian" added to name a person who practises the field. Put together, the word names someone who works on biological data with computational methods. The sense of the compound is what gives it its character. Each element is old and familiar, but the combination only became necessary once the work it describes existed. Biology generated large volumes of sequence and measurement data, and specialists who could handle that data with computers needed a title of their own. The word therefore reflects a specific practical shift in how biological research was done, rather than any older scientific tradition.

Synonyms: bioinformatics specialists