Translational bioinformatics applications in genome medicine

Although investigators using methodologies in bioinformatics have always been useful in genomic experimentation in analytic, engineering, and infrastructure support roles, only recently have bioinformaticians been able to have a primary scientific role in asking and answering questions on human health and disease. Here, I argue that this shift in role towards asking questions in medicine is now the next step needed for the field of bioinformatics. I outline four reasons why bioinformaticians are newly enabled to drive the questions in primary medical discovery: public availability of data, intersection of data across experiments, commoditization of methods, and streamlined validation. I also list four recommendations for bioinformaticians wishing to get more involved in translational research.