Bioinformatics, the use of computers to retrieve, process, analyze and simulate biological information, promises to revolutionize the process of drug discovery and development. This book provides a broad, application-oriented overview of this technology. Contributions by internationally renowned specialists in the field afford a detailed insight into single bioinformatics components and algorithmic methods. In addition, the state-of-the-art in bioinformatics is evaluated equally from a global view by introducing real application scenarios such as genome projects that require the use of a whole set of bioinformatics tools. The profound knowledge on bioinformatics presented here not only enables readers to go beyond a mere push-button approach to using bioinformatics software and interpreting the data generated appropriately. It is also essential to assess the potential and limitations of today's bioinformatics software and future challenges.