Computational molecular biology, which now is commonly called bioinformatics, draws on mathematics and computer science to inform research in biology. This evolving area of research advances our knowledge of biological systems and contributes to medical research, but also raises ethical issues and demands increased collaboration among scientists. These issues are reviewed in this issue of Topic in Depth.

Biocomputing in a Nutshell
http://www.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de/bcd/ForAll/Basics/welcome.html
NRC: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists
http://books.nap.edu/execsumm_pdf/10497.pdf
What is Bioinformatics?
http://www.massey.ac.nz/~ppgardne/bioinformatics/Bioinformatics_Definitions.htm
Open Bioinformatics Foundation
http://www.open-bio.org/
University of British Columbia: Bioinformatics Links Directory
http://www.bioinformatics.ubc.ca/resources/links_directory/
European BioInformatics Institute
http://www.ebi.ac.uk/Information/
The American Journal of Bioethics
http://www.bioethics.net/

The first website (1) offers a broad introduction to bioinformatics. The second website (2) provides a summary of a report from the National Research Council outlining some of the contributions of bioinformatics research and suggests ways to promote collaboration among the diverse disciplines within graduate and undergraduate programs. The author of this next website (3) provides links to various definitions of bioinformatics and offers a brief review of the origins of the field. Another interesting facet of this work, which can probably be traced to the field's history, is the sharing of tools and resources over the Internet. For example, researchers can share their open source code software on websites such as this one from the Open Bioinformatics Foundation (4) or search this directory from the University of British Columbia (5) to find everything from the genome of the SARS virus to basic guidelines and tools. Some interesting research projects are described on this website from the European bioInformatics Institute (6). Finally, a review of some of the ethical issues raised by this work are posted on this website (7 ). [VF]