Molecular Biology and Internet

Virtual Laboratories


Forms of network collaboration:

Real-time data sharing

Resources sharing

Resources integration


Examples of existing research resources

Navigation servers:

ExPASy Molecular Biology Server

Internet Directory of Biotechnology Resources

Motif: Bioinformatics Web Site

Pedro's BioMolecular Research Tools


Sequence analysis servers:

Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST)
Nucleotide or protein query sequences against the specified database using the BLAST algorithm.

BioSCAN
The BioSCAN (Biological Sequence Comparative Analysis Node) project is an attempt to provide a novel, powerful computational tool to molecular biologists for rapid search and analysis of biological sequences.

FASTA database search

Entrez Browser
WWW Entrez allows you to retrieve citations and records in the area of molecular biology from the NCBI databases, including : the molecular biology subset of MEDLINE, proteins from several databases around the world; nucleotides from GenBank and other sources.

BLOCKS
Blocks are multiply aligned ungapped segments corresponding to the most highly conserved regions of proteins, used for detection and verification of protein sequence homology.


Protein structure servers:

CATH protein classification home page.
CATH is based on both structural and sequence relationships between proteins at several levels of similarity.

NNPREDICT: Protein Secondary Structure Prediction

scop: Structural Classification of Proteins.
The scop database, created by manual inspection and abetted by a battery of automated methods, aims to provide a detailed and comprehensive description of the structural and evolutionary relationships between all proteins whose structure is known. As such, it provides a broad survey of all known protein folds, detailed information about the close relatives of any particular protein, and a framework for future research and classification.


Simulation server:

BITMed: Laboratory for Biological Informatics & Theoretical Medicine
In the BITMed Simulation Server the WWW hypertext is interleaved with true complex systems simulations of biological, chemical and physical systems.


Biomolecular Informatics

Molecular informatics deals with representation, encoding, storage, retrieval, processing, and exchange of information describing geometry and chemical structure of molecules, including biological macromolecules.


Projects in biomolecular informatics:

Hyperactive Molecules
Proposal for an Internet based standard based on primary chemical MIME types to be used in conjunction with the the World-Wide-Web information delivery system.

The Representation of Molecular Models Rendering Techniques
Review on molecular graphics.

Annmm
Annmm is a program- and machine-independent standard for annotating macromolecular structures. Data encoded by this specification may be used for communicating information about structures and for exchanging it between different computer systems. The format consists of a set of ASN.1 objects which are mechanically straightforward to parse, but are also easy for humans to create and understand. It differs from all other related standards in that it specifies how a molecule should be displayed without requiring a custom format for the coordinate data.

DDL: A Dictionary Description Language for Macromolecular Struture
An evolving reference document which provides a detailed specification of a Dictionary Description Language (DDL) designed to support macromolecular structure applications.