Journal of Proteomics & Bioinformatics
Open Access

In Silico

In silico is an expression meaning "performed on computer or via computer simulation" in reference to biological experiments. The phrase was coined in 1987 as an allusion to the Latin phrases in vivo, in vitro, and in situ, and refer to experiments done in living organisms, outside living organisms, and where they are found in nature, respectively.

In silico study in medicine is thought to have the potential to speed the rate of discovery while reducing the need for expensive lab work and clinical trials. One way to achieve this is by producing and screening drug candidates more effectively. In 2010, for example, using the protein docking algorithm EADock (see Protein-ligand docking), researchers found potential inhibitors to an enzyme associated with cancer activity in silico. Fifty percent of the molecules were later shown to be active inhibitors in vitro.[6][7] This approach differs from use of expensive high-throughput screening (HTS) robotic labs to physically test thousands of diverse compounds a day often with an expected hit rate on the order of 1% or less with still fewer expected to be real leads following further testing.