Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology is becoming very popular in generating the short reads genomic or transcriptome data. Based on the type of sequencing technology, it offers diverse applications varying from genome assembly, gene expression analysis to epigenetic changes.

Incorporating digital and online tools to increase the options and flexibility in education is a rapidly growing area of pedagogy. Students can collaborate on projects without being in the same vicinity and download archived live lectures for further review, or access recorded lectures in case they missed it.

Bioseqeunces such as protein, RNA and DNA, are made up of sequences of amino acids/nucleotides. The binding of biosequences among themselves is important for governing many biological processes of a living organism. The bindings are maintained by short segments of these biosequences, known as functional elements. Due to the importance of these functional elements, their presence is well conserved throughout evolution, allowing them to be discovered as patterns. As sequencing technologies continue to improve, the amount of biosequences is available in abundance. It is thus convenient and cost-effective if functional elements can be discovered from biosequences data computationally in an unsupervised manner without the need of prior knowledge or costly pre-preprocessing. In this paper, we aim to give a brief review of an unsupervised pattern discovery tool known as Aligned Pattern Clustering (or its software WeMineTM). It is developed to facilitate the discovery and analysis of patterns in biosequences, and has been applied in1) unsupervised identification of protein binding sites; 2) revealing functioning subgroup characteristics; and 3) identification of intra-protein, inter-protein and protein- DNA binding sites. In the era of ever-expanding biosequence data, we believe that this unsupervised pattern discovery approach would render a reliable, robust, and scalable method for scientific discovery and applications through leveraging the ever expanding volume of biosequences.

Biofilms keep the intimate relationship between human body and resident microbes. According to National Institutes of Health (NIH), the development of extracellular microbial communities, called biofilms contribute approximately 75% of pathogenic infections to human. The formation of biofilm confers several advantages during pathogen colonization and tolerates extreme conditions like exogenous stress caused by anti-infective agents. The interpretation and exploitation of anti-biofilm properties would help in future challenges, particularly in the control of human infections. The proven scientific evidence with regard to cellular association and exopolysaccharide production by probiotic bacteria could play an important role as anti-biofilm tools. These extracellular components may directly interact with the biofilms as they are actively transported to the bacterial environments via cytoplasmic membrane. The interactive ability of these extracellular metabolites to treat pathogenic biofilms is gaining significant research interest and their possibility to use as anti-biofilm agents. In this review, the extracellular probiotic bacterial markers and molecular approaches to control pathogenic biofilms have been reviewed and future perspectives and research interests are discussed as well.