An area of knowledge focused on the development and application of computational tools in the analysis and interpretation of biological data and phenomena, Bioinformatics, a relatively young science compared to Molecular Biology and Cellular Biology, has been assuming a central role in a wide spectrum of applications, from basic to applied science. At CBiot, Bioinformatics has contributed to elucidating the role of protein glycosylation in root growth, opening up the prospect of developing new economically important cultivars with greater water and nutrient absorption capacity, a key aspect for the development of plants capable of growing properly in drier and poorer soils.
CBiot researchers have been prominent in Brazil in both the development and application of computational tools applied to various types of analyses, including those focused on large-scale data (including interactomes and transcriptomes), cellular phenotypes involved in pathologies such as cancer and aging, and in the field of Artificial Intelligence, with an emphasis on designing new Machine Learning algorithms, Heuristic Search Methods, and Massively Parallel Processing. In their collaboration with the National Institute of Forensic Science and Technology (INCT Forense), they develop projects for predicting human appearance from biological traces of forensic interest and for building technology for the identification and traceability of Cannabis in the national territory. In partnership with the National Institute of Science and Technology in Pediatric Cancer Biology and Pediatric Oncology (INCT BioOncoPed), they are involved in the search for new drug candidates capable of contributing to the treatment of various types of pediatric cancers. Finally, to support these research efforts and enhance future advancements, CBiot has been building multi-user computational infrastructure necessary for studies and technology developments in the field of bioinformatics, also serving as support for companies incubated at IECBiot.