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Data integration in microbial genomics ... - Jacobs University

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CHAPTER 8<br />

CONCLUSION AND<br />

OUTLOOK<br />

“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge:<br />

it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so<br />

positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by<br />

science.” (Charles Darw<strong>in</strong>, The Descent of Man, 1871)<br />

8.1 Life Sciences: The transition to a data-driven<br />

field of science<br />

As it was discussed, it is an <strong>in</strong>disputable fact that scientists <strong>in</strong> all discipl<strong>in</strong>es<br />

of life sciences are fac<strong>in</strong>g an unprecedented data accumulation.<br />

Hence, the field is <strong>in</strong> a transition phase to a data-driven field of science.<br />

Other fields of science like physics or astronomy have long s<strong>in</strong>ce<br />

undergone this transition. The challenges <strong>in</strong> these fields of science<br />

were mastered by the application of efficient data process<strong>in</strong>g strategies<br />

and by apply<strong>in</strong>g state-of-the-art computer science methods and<br />

technologies. In order to ga<strong>in</strong> knowledge, it is <strong>in</strong>evitable to also apply<br />

these strategies to the ever-<strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g amount of sequence data <strong>in</strong> life<br />

science.<br />

In this thesis several strategies <strong>in</strong> this direction have been pursued.<br />

• Early contextual data acquisition and <strong><strong>in</strong>tegration</strong>: It is<br />

necessary to preserve the context of the sequence data early on<br />

and to <strong>in</strong>tegrate contextual and sequence data as soon as possible<br />

to reduce manual <strong>in</strong>put to a m<strong>in</strong>imum and to enhance opportu-

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