Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field that develops methods and software tools for understanding biological data. As an interdisciplinary field of science, bioinformatics combines computer science, biology, mathematics, statistics, and engineering to analyze and interpret biological data. Bioinformatics has been used for in silico analyses of biological queries using mathematical and statistical techniques. More broadly, bioinformatics is applied statistics and computing to biological science.

In the same way that humans have a genome (aka the collection of our DNA), microorganisms also contain and express countless genes. The combined genetic material of the microorganisms in a human body is known as the microbiome. But how do we even begin to untangle all this complex genetic information?

Bioinformatics is the study of complex mathematical analyses that enable us able to see patterns in the microbiome data that we wouldn’t see otherwise. For example we can spot links between changes in the microbiome and lifestyle factors (such as sleep, diet, or smoking). It can also show us the potential links between the health of the microbiome and diseases.

Remember: correlation doesn’t equal causation. Bioinformatics is for information gathering, not hypothesizing.