Bioinformatics is the emerging field that deals with the application of computers to the collection, organization, analysis, manipulation, presentation, and sharing of biologic data. A central component of bioinformatics is the study of the best ways to design and operate biologic databases. This is in contrast with the field of computational biology, where specific research questions are the primary focus.

The goal of this meeting was to bring together bioinformatics stake holders from government, academe, and industry for a day of presentations and dialogue. Fifteen experts identified and discussed some of the most important issues raised by the current flood of biologic data. Topics explored included the importance of database curation, database integration and interoperability, consistency and standards in terminology, error prevention and correction, data provenance, ontology, the importance of maintaining privacy, data mining, and the need for more computer scientists with specialty training in bioinformatics.