Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics

Widely received in its previous edition, Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics offers the most broad-based introduction to this explosive new discipline. Now in a thoroughly updated and expanded Second Edition, it continues to be the go-to source for students and professionals involved in biomedical research.

This edition provides up-to-the-minute coverage of the fields of bioinformatics and genomics. Features new to this edition include:

• Several fundamentally important proteins, such as globins, histones, insulin, and albumins, are included to better show how to apply bioinformatics tools to basic biological questions.
• A completely updated companion web site, which will be updated as new information becomes available - visit www.wiley.com/go/pevsnerbioinformatics
• Descriptions of genome sequencing projects spanning the tree of life.
• A stronger focus on how bioinformatics tools are used to understand human disease.

The book is complemented by lavish illustrations and more than 500 figures and tables—fifty of which are entirely new to this edition. Each chapter includes a Problem Set, Pitfalls, Boxes explaining key techniques and mathematics/statistics principles, Summary, Recommended Reading, and a list of freely available software. Readers may visit a related Web page for supplemental information at www.wiley.com/go/pevsnerbioinformatics.

Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics, Second Edition serves as an excellent single-source textbook for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate-level courses in the biological sciences and computer sciences. It is also an indispensable resource for biologists in a broad variety of disciplines who use the tools of bioinformatics and genomics to study particular research problems; bioinformaticists and computer scientists who develop computer algorithms and databases; and medical researchers and clinicians who want to understand the genomic basis of viral, bacterial, parasitic, or other diseases.

Praise for the first edition:

"...ideal both for biologists who want to master the application of bioinformatics to real-world problems and for computer scientists who need to understand the biological questions that motivate algorithms." Quarterly Review of Biology

"… an excellent textbook for graduate students and upper level undergraduate students." Annals of Biomedical Engineering

"…highly recommended for academic and medical libraries, and for researchers as an introduction and reference…" E-Streams

Now, for the book itself. It is easy to read and covers all aspects of bioinformatics from a sequence perspective (information retrieval, BLAST, gene expression and microarrays, proteomics and protein bioinformatics, genomes and disease). The coverage of databases and URLs is thourough and the text is easy to read, yet useful. The book is comprehensive with one area seemingly missing -- it would have been useful to include a chapter on systems biology and/or cellular modeling and the tools available (i.e. E-Cell). The book is especially useful to a researcher who is trying to explore all aspects of a particular gene, protein, disease, or pathway using bioinformatics tools.

The book is in stark contrast to the other Pevser (that is Pevzner) who wrote a bioinformatics book that surveyed algorithm theory underlying bioinformatics.

This book is also useful for less technical professionals in industry -- the managers, lawyers and venture capitalists that pervade the biotech landscape all need to communicate effectively and they can surely learn that here, provided they have some background in cell biology first.


Highly Recommended   April 15, 2004
3 out of 16 found this review helpful

"...an intriguing work targeted toward biologists wanting to solve problems...provides a compendium of many biological insights and breakthroughs and will be a useful resource...highly recommended." (Choice, Vol. 41, No. 7, March 2004)


Excellent Condition   October 21, 2008
Anup Singh (Milwaukee, WI)
0 out of 10 found this review helpful

The book as recieved from seller in exellent condition. Fundamental concepts of Bioinformatics are well explained.


Purchased for Class   October 9, 2009
B. Alleman
0 out of 10 found this review helpful

I purchased this item new for a class I am in. I have only read a small amount as of yet, but it seems to be a well written text. The book came very quickly after my purchase.


Bioinformatics for computational dummies   January 24, 2004
Geoff Manders (Boston)
14 out of 43 found this review helpful

A genious attempt to present bioinformatics as if it is a discipline without any computational content. Perfect for students who lost any hope to understand what is the engine driving bioinformatics tools but want simply to memorize how to use them instead. Must be a very comfortable reading for biologists but is as exciting as a long carefully designed restaurant menu for a mathematician. If the author wants to raise a new generation of biologists with this book then biology and *real* bioinformatics will be divorced forever.