ABSTRACT
With the increasing costs and higher rates of adverse events, health
care and the pharmaceutical industry face many challenges. The
areas of pharmacogenomics and systems biology arose in response
to the scientific challenges. Pharmacogenomics may provide the
scientific basis toward personalized treatment. Systems biology
would enable the understanding of the complexity of the human
system and contribute to personalized medicine. However, one of
the most significant obstacles to achieving the goal of personalized
medicine is the translation of scientific discoveries into better
clinical outcomes. Such translation cannot be achieved without
the support from effective information technologies. Translational
bioinformatics may act as an emerging subfield of translational
medicine to support the predictability and success of therapeutics.
This chapter discusses the roles, missions, and methodologies
in translational bioinformatics for supporting the translation of
pharmacogenomic and systems biology studies into the practice of
personalized medicine.a
