Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences

This branch supports bioinformatics and computational approaches that join biology with the computer sciences, engineering, mathematics, biostatistics and physics as well as general approaches that have the potential for broad applicability and usage by investigators with support from across NIH and other agencies. The branch also leads the NIH Biomedical Information Science and Technology Initiative (BISTI) and collaborates with other parts of NIH on the Big Data to Knowledge initiative as well as with the National Science Foundation to support a program in mathematical biology.

BISTI is a consortium of representatives from each of the NIH institutes and centers that works to make optimal use of computer science and technology to address problems in biology and medicine by fostering new basic understandings, collaborations and transdisciplinary initiatives between the computational and biomedical sciences.

Systems Biology. Three dimensional simulation of vascular tumor growth using a multiscale model. The blood vessels (sprouts) are shown in green and anastomosed (yellow). Credit: Arthur Lander, M.D., Ph.D., University of California, Irvine Network visualization by Cytoscape, an open source software platform for visualizing molecular networks and biological pathways. Project Tycho heat map of infectious disease demonstrating impact of vaccination. This is an image of cellular microphysiciology using Monte Carlo Cell (MCell) technology. MCell is a program that uses spatially realistic 3-D cellular models and specialized algorithms to simulate the movements and reactions of molecules within and between cells. This illustration was created by DelPhi, a software for electrostatic modeling of biomolecules and shows the positively and negatively charged areas of a molecular structure in red and blue, respectively.


Program Areas

Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study (MIDAS)

National Centers for Systems Biology (NCSB)

Mathematical Biology

Investigator-Initiated Research Grants

Small Business Grants

Additional Information

Division Staff Contacts

For more information about bioinformatics and computational biology programs, contact:

Paul Brazhnik, Ph.D.
Chief, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Branch
Division of Biophysics, Biomedical Technology, and Computational Biosciences
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
National Institutes of Health
45 Center Drive MSC 6200
Bethesda, MD 20892-6200

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