Bioinformatics in Latin America and SoIBio impact, a tale of spin-off and expansion around genomes and protein structures

Abstract

Owing to the emerging impact of bioinformatics and computational biology, in this article, we present an overview of the history and current state of the research on this field in Latin America (LA). It will be difficult to cover without inequality all the efforts, initiatives and works that have happened for the past two decades in this vast region (that includes >19 million km2 and >600 million people). Despite the difficulty, we have done an analytical search looking for publications in the field made by researchers from 19 LA countries in the past 25 years. In this way, we find that research in bioinformatics in this region should develop twice to approach the average world scientific production in the field. We also found some of the pioneering scientists who initiated and led bioinformatics in the region and were promoters of this new scientific field. Our analysis also reveals that spin-off began around some specific areas within the biomolecular sciences: studies on genomes (anchored in the new generation of deep sequencing technologies, followed by developments in proteomics) and studies on protein structures (supported by three-dimensional structural determination technologies and their computational advancement). Finally, we show that the contribution to this endeavour of the Iberoamerican Society for Bioinformatics, founded in Mexico in 2009, has been significant, as it is a leading forum to join efforts of many scientists from LA interested in promoting research, training and education in bioinformatics.

Keywords: Ibero-America; Latin America; SoIBio; bioinformatics; computational biology; genomics.

Figure 1

(A) Barplot presenting the number of research articles per country published by scientists from 19 countries of LA on bioinformatics and computational biology in 25 years (from 1991 to 2016). The total number found was: 2119. (B) Word cloud derived from the titles of top 500 most highly cited research articles within the total list of 2119 papers. (C) Selection of some of the organisms studied by scientists of LA.

Figure 2

(A) Network presenting the research interactions between 11 LA countries, based in articles published on bioinformatics and computational biology between 1991 and 2016 (links created when the number of papers is N ≥ 2 and marked when N > 3). (B) Number of research articles on bioinformatics and computational biology published each year by scientists from 19 LA countries (from 1991 to 2016). The total number of articles was 2119 and the total number of times that have been cited: 26 499.