title: Can pharmacology possibly have a role for bioinformatics?
abstract: In today's information-driven culture, there is virtually no walk of life that is not impacted on by computing. As a bridging discipline in the health sciences with activities that span both basic science and clinical interests, modern pharmacology is no exception. As the plethora of data and databases spawned by the 'omics' generation expand in number and complexity, bioinformatics is necessary to manage, integrate and exploit this cohort of data so that the appropriate links to molecular pathology and therapeutic response can be made. Bioinformatics is now an integral part of drug discovery and development. This article reviews the use of bioinformatics in this process, from target identification and validation, to pharmacogenomics, toxicogenomics and systems biology.
authors.affiliation: Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research, Respiratory Disease Area, Wimblehurst Road, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 5AB, UK. paul.whittaker@novartis.com.
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Whittaker