Biostatistics is the application of statistics to biological and medical fields. It involves collecting and analyzing data from experiments and studies. Biostatisticians help design clinical trials and epidemiological studies to investigate diseases. They use statistical methods and software to interpret data, make valid inferences, and solve public health problems. Biostatistics is important in areas like genetics, pharmacology, and demography. It helps evaluate public health programs and policies. While powerful, biostatistics has limitations like being dependent on quality data collection and potential for errors in results or decisions.

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BIOSTATISTICS AND ITS
IMPORTANCE TO BIOLOGIST
By: Walid Nabil Saleh
B.Sc. of Electrical Eng., MBA,DBA

2. • 2
Outlines
• Purpose
• What is Biostatistics
• Difference between Biostatistics and Bioinformatics
• The Role of Biostatisticians
• Biostatistics Classifications
• Steps in Biostatistics
• Biostatistics Data (variables)
• Importance of Biostatistics in Biological Science
• Experimental case for using Biostatistics in
Bioinformatics
• Limitation of Biostatistics

3. Purpose
The aim of this presentation is to deliver the
fundamentals and the applications of
biostatistics so that the proper and accurate
conclusions may be drawn from the presentation
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4. What is Biostatistics
The branch of Statistics that deals with data
relating to living organism.
Biostatistics can be defined as the
application of the mathematical tools used
in statistics to the fields of biological
sciences and medicine.
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5. d)’(ContBiostatisticsWhat is
It’s a field that merges passion and skill
with Biomedical science, Mathematics and
Statistics.
The goal of Biostatistics is to disentangle
the data received and make valid inferences
that can be used to solve problems in Public
Health.
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6. What is Biostatistics(Cont’d)
Biostatistics has made a major contribution to the
Public Health issues such as:
 Chronic diseases.
 Cancer.
 Human growth and development.
 The relationship between Genetics and
Environment.
 AIDS.
 Environmental Health.
In conclusion, “Turning data into knowledge.” 6

7. Key differentiators between Biostatistics and
Bioinformatics
Although Biostatistics and Bioinformatics seem similar,
both are entirely different fields of study.
Biostatistics is the integration of statistics with Biology.
It deals with the design of biological experimentations,
in Medicine and Agriculture.
On the other hand, Bioinformatics is the incorporation
of Computer Science and Information Technology with
Molecular Biology.
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8. Key differentiators between Biostatistics and
Bioinformatics(Cont’d)
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9. The Role of Biostatisticians
Biostatisticians are required to develop statistical methods
for the following:
 Clinical trials:
Studying the evaluation of treatments, screening
and prevention methods in populations.
 Epidemiological Studies:
Investigate the causes and origins of disease in humans.
 Human Genetics:
Studying the genetic differences associated
with diseases and disease states.
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10. The Role of Biostatisticians(Cont’d)
 Spatial Studies:
Studying the geographical distribution of disease/risk
factors
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11. Biostatistics Classifications:
The biostatistics is classified in the following aspects:
I. The design of experiments for collecting the data.
II. The statistical methods and its analysis output.
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12. Steps in Biostatistics
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13. Steps in Biostatistics(Cont’d)
The Biostatistics information is carried out the
following sequential steps:
Establishing Sample Size
Hypothesis Testing
Interpreting Data Analysis
Statistical Software
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14. Biostatistics Data (variables)
In our example of medical records, there are several variables of
each type:
o Age, Weight, and Height are quantitative variables.
o Race, Gender, and Smoking are categorical variables.
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15. Importance of Biostatistics in Biological
Science
Biostatistics has application in all the branches of life
sciences. Few applications of biostatistics are summarized
below:
 Genetics
o Study the inheritance pattern of the genes
o Essential for the study of Mendelian genetics.
o For the study of genetics structure of the
population
o Studying the behavior of genes in a
population (population genetics)
o For the mapping chromosomes
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16. Importance of Biostatistics in Biological
Science(Cont’d)
 Numerical Taxonomy
 Community and Public Health
o To evaluate achievements of Public Health
programs.
o To fix priorities in Public Health programs.
o To help promote health legislation and create
administrative standards for oral health.
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17. Importance of Biostatistics in Biological
Science(Cont’d)
 Pharmaceutical Science
o Checking the efficiency of drugs.
o Find out the possible side effects of the drugs.
o Conduction of the drugs treatment trials.
 Demography (study of human population)
 Helps in implementation policies by government
 Used in Weather Forecasting (Environmental)
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18. Experimental case for using biostatistics
in Bioinformatics
Integration of bioinformatics and computational biology to
understand protein-DNA recognition mechanism
Introduction
Transcription factors play essential role in the gene regulation
in higher organism, binding to multiple target sequences and
regulating multiple genes in a complex manner.
PROBLEM(RESEARCH QUESTION)
In order to decipher the mechanism of gene regulation, it is
important to understand the molecular mechanism of
protein-DNA recognition.
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19. Experimental case for using biostatistics
in Bioinformatics(Cont’d)
Integration of bioinformatics and computational biology to
understand protein-DNA recognition mechanism
EXPERIMENT:
There is a strategy to approach this problem, using various
methods in bioinformatics and computational biology.
a knowledge-based approach, utilizing rapidly increasing
structural data of protein-DNA complexes, to derive
empirical potential functions for the specific interactions
between bases and amino acids as well as for DNA
conformation, from the statistical analyses on the
structural data. 19

20. Experimental case for using biostatistics
in Bioinformatics(Cont’d)
Integration of bioinformatics and computational biology to
understand protein-DNA recognition mechanism
DATA ANALYSIS
These statistical potentials are used to quantify the
specificity of protein-DNA recognition.
The quantification of specificity has enabled the
researcher to establish the structure-function analysis of
transcription factors, such as the effects of binding
cooperativity on target recognition.
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21. Experimental case for using biostatistics
in Bioinformatics(Cont’d)
Integration of bioinformatics and computational biology to
understand protein-DNA recognition mechanism
CONCLUSION
Using computer simulations of protein-DNA interactions
and DNA conformation in order to complement the
empirical method.
The integration of these approaches together will provide
deeper insight into the mechanism of protein-DNA
recognition and improve the target prediction of
transcription factors.
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22. Limitation of Biostatistics
 Statistics cannot be applied to single/individual data
 Statistical methods cannot be applied on highly
heterogeneous data.
 If sufficient care is not considered in collecting,
analyzing and interpreting the data, the statistical
result might be misleading.
 Statistical results are not always beyond doubt.
 Some errors are possible in the statistical decisions.
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23. THANK YOU!
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