Role of Distributed Computing in Biology Research Field and Its Challenges

Experimental biology and bioinformatics have amazingly allowed us to understand nature, its living organisms, and its environments. In this book chapter, we explained the role of distributed computing applications in solving biology research questions and their challenges during application. The use of high-performance computing, specifically distributed computing into biological protocols, reduces the runtime, captures discrete biological interactions, increases collaborative teamwork initiatives, and speeds up the process of bridging the gap of biological knowledge. Although the integration of computer science and the biology research field is elucidated with promising advantages, researchers who adopted this system into their experiments are still faced with several challenges, such as cost-to-demand issues, lack of expertise, compatibility issue, and more. Nevertheless, many intensive interventions from biologists, mathematicians, statisticians, and computer scientists have started collectively utilizing advanced distributed computing environments in these biological research techniques. This backbreaking move hopes to be the driving force toward the progress of biology research and findings. This book chapter will summarise some recent applications of distributed computing in experimental biology and bioinformatics. It will further discuss its advantages, challenges, and limitations, as well as future directions for integrating both knowledge.