Bioinformatics is the application of information technology to the storage, management and analysis of biological information. It involves using computers to analyze biological data, especially DNA and protein sequences. Some key areas of bioinformatics include sequence analysis, molecular modeling, phylogeny/evolution, medical informatics, image analysis, and statistics. Bioinformatics has many applications in medicine like genome analysis for genetic diseases, understanding drug effects, and facilitating drug design. It can also be applied to crop and livestock improvement. Next generation sequencing technologies like Illumina, SOLiD, and 454 have enabled rapid DNA sequencing at a lower cost compared to Sanger sequencing. These new technologies are driving major advances in biological research.