Cancer Informatics
Cancer Informatics
Cancer Informatics (pronunciation: kan-ser in-for-mat-iks) is a specialized field within the broader discipline of Biomedical Informatics. It focuses on the application of informatics techniques to analyze and interpret data related to cancer research and patient care.
Etymology
The term "Cancer Informatics" is a combination of the words "Cancer" and "Informatics". "Cancer" is derived from the Latin cancer meaning "crab", due to the crab-like spread of an invasive tumor. "Informatics" is derived from the French informatique, which is a combination of information and automatic, referring to the automatic processing of information.
Definition
Cancer Informatics involves the use of computational methods and software tools to collect, analyze, and interpret complex biological data related to cancer. This field plays a crucial role in understanding the genetic and molecular mechanisms of cancer, improving cancer diagnosis and treatment, and enhancing cancer research productivity.
Related Terms
- Bioinformatics: The science of collecting and analyzing complex biological data such as genetic codes.
- Genomics: The study of the genomes of organisms.
- Proteomics: The large-scale study of proteins, particularly their structures and functions.
- Data Mining: The process of discovering patterns in large data sets involving methods at the intersection of machine learning, statistics, and database systems.
- Machine Learning: The study of computer algorithms that improve automatically through experience and by the use of data.
Applications
Cancer Informatics has a wide range of applications in cancer research and patient care. It is used in the analysis of genomic and proteomic data to identify potential cancer biomarkers and therapeutic targets. It also plays a crucial role in the development of clinical decision support systems for cancer diagnosis and treatment.
See Also
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Cancer Informatics
- Wikipedia's article - Cancer Informatics
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