Bioinformatics Within and Beyond Biology 

Yongyuth Yuthavong 

BIOTEC, National Science and Technology Development Agency,

Pathumthani 12120, Thailand  

Bioinformatics is a powerful tool to understand the building blocks (genes, proteins, other biomolecules) and processes (gene expression and regulation, metabolism, cellular processes)of biology. In order to achieve practical purposes, eg. in drug discovery, it must be used in conjunction with other tools in biology and related sciences. Although its initial subject matter is in the area of molecular biology, due to its far reaching scope and rapidly more powerful information technology, it should soon see applications in broad areas of biology and beyond.  These include life processes at cellular and organism levels, exobiology, ecology, neural networks, robotics and sustainability science.