Information technology research has played a significant role in the genomics revolution over the past decade, from aiding with large-scale sequence assembly to automating gene identification to efficiently searching databases by sequence similarity. The tremendous amount of information gathered from genomics will be dwarfed in the next decade by the knowledge to be gained from comprehensive, systematic studies of the properties and behaviors of all proteins and other biomolecules.

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... n imaging of molecules and cells will be critical for understanding complex systems such as the nervous system, whether it be for the localization of specific neuron types within a region of the central nervous system, the branching pattern of dendritic trees, or the localization of molecules at the subcellular level. Furthermore, knowing how these distribution patterns and subcellular locations change as a function of time is critical to understanding how cells respond to stress, injury, aging, and disease. We are developing sophisticated information technologies for collecting and interpreting the enormous volume of biological image data. A major outcome of the research will be a unique, fully operational, distributed digital library of biomolecular image data accessible to researchers around the world. Such searchable databases will make it possible to optimally understand and interpret the data, leading to a more complete and integrated understanding of cellular structure, function and regulation.