Department of Animal Sciences Leads A&T into Bioinformatics Field

For Immediate Release
April 20, 2001

Greensboro, NC: A hot new field has emerged from biotechnology, and the Department of Animal Sciences at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is helping faculty and students from across campus prepare for it.

Bioinformatics, the creation and development of advanced information and computational technologies for solving problems in biotechnology, holds tremendous career potential, says Dr. Mulumebet Worku, a biotechnologist with A&T's Department of Animal Sciences.

"Bioinformatics moved into the public view with the Human Genome Project, which is designed to sequence all 24 human chromosomes," said Worku. "Previously, without bioinformatics, this type of work was painstakingly slow, so much so that it was almost impractical. By merging information technology with biotechnology, scientists enjoy an accelerated work pace and greater productivity."

Using bioinformatics, researchers can more easily draw useful data from the overwhelming amount of raw data generated in laboratories, and this helps in a variety of sequencing procedures in plant, animal and microbial genome projects.

According to Worku, top biotechnology companies - searching for a competitive edge - are combing the graduating classes of campuses across the nation, looking for scientists skilled in bioinformatics. With the power of bioinformatics, these scientists can better leverage biotechnology to address problems, such as famine and endangered species.

So that both faculty and student researchers at A&T are prepared to take advantage of this trend, Worku is leading an effort to introduce the field of bioinformatics to faculty, staff and graduate students from departments across the A&T campus.

To do this, Worku recently organized a workshop entitled, "Merging Biology and Computer Science," which was presented by the National Biotechnology Information facility (NBIF) of New Mexico State University and sponsored by the United States Army Research Office.

"We have had a biotechnology certificate program at A&T since 1996, so the merging of bioinformatics into this curriculum is a logical step," said Worku. "Faculty teaching these courses are dedicated to preparing students to emerge from the program ready to hit the ground running. By providing workshops and other educational opportunities to them, we can help faculty, and by extension, students, realize their goals."

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For more information, please contact Dr. Mulumebet Worku, NC A&T State University, (336) 334-7615.