Biological Insight, High-Throughput Datasets and the Nature of Neuro-Degenerative Disorders

Title:Biological Insight, High-Throughput Datasets and the Nature of Neuro-Degenerative Disorders

Volume: 14 Issue: 7

Author(s): André X. C. N. Valente, Paulo J. Oliveira, Svetlana F. Khaiboullina, András Palotás and Albert A. Rizvanov

Affiliation:

Keywords: Bio-informatics, biological insight, high-throughput data, data analysis, neuro-degenerative disease.

Abstract: Life sciences are experiencing a historical shift towards a quantitative, data-rich regime. This transition has been associated with the advent of bio-informatics: mathematicians, physicists, computer scientists and statisticians are now commonplace in the field, working on the analysis of ever larger data-sets. An open question regarding what should drive scientific progress in this new era remains: will biological insight become increasingly irrelevant in a world of hypothesis-free, unbiased data analysis? This piece offers a different perspective, pin-pointing that biological thought is more-than-ever relevant in a data-rich setting. Some of the novel highthroughput information being acquired in the field of neuro-degenerative disorders is highlighted here. As but one example of how theory and experiment can interact in this new reality, our efforts in developing an idiopathic neuro-degenerative disease hematopoietic stemcell ageing theory are described.

Cite this article as:

Valente X. C. N. André, Oliveira J. Paulo, Khaiboullina F. Svetlana, Palotás András and Rizvanov A. Albert, Biological Insight, High-Throughput Datasets and the Nature of Neuro-Degenerative Disorders, Current Drug Metabolism 2013; 14 (7) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/13892002113149990100