Concise Commentary: Armchair Science Redux—How Advanced In Silico Analysis Revealed Novel Insights into the Pathogenesis of Acute Pancreatitis

Excerpt

As the technology available to sequence genetic material becomes increasingly refined and affordable, so too does the opportunity to apply it to the diagnosis and prognosis of human disease. Modern genetic sequencing methods, including RNA sequencing, chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing, and single-cell sequencing now offer deep views of the genetic state of organisms. This rapid technological expansion has produced an abundance of data, which when combined with modern computing power and statistical techniques have given rise to modern bioinformatics. These advances offer the enticing possibility of advancing understanding of human health and disease, including identifying novel diagnostic, prognostic, and treatment pathways, but are not without their challenges, such as analysis of these enormous data sets so as to make them useful to medicine. …