I just received an announcement for the GE & Science Prize for Young Life Scientists.

About the prize

At GE and Science we believe in rewarding the best young scientists around the world. Which is why we want to hear from you if you’ve been awarded a PhD in molecular biology during 2007.

Submit a 1,000 word essay on your work before August 1, 2008, and you could be the winner of the prestigious GE & Science Prize for Young Life Scientists. There are also four regional prize winners from North America, Europe, Japan and the rest of the world. The winners will:

• fly to Stockholm for the award ceremony
• meet some of the Nobel Prize laureates
• have their PhD profiled in the online version of Science
• receive $25,000 or $5,000 for regional winners

To see what happened in Stockholm last year

The prize, which is sponsored by GE and Science was established in 1996 to help bring science to life by recognizing outstanding PhDs from around the world.

* For the purpose of this prize molecular biology is defined as “that part of biology which attempts to interpret biological events in terms of the physicochemical properties of molecules in a cell” -(McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th Edition).

An interesting article appeared in the online version of Discover magazine this week. I am always a big fan of the “Vital Signs” column in the magazine and I was especially interested to see that this month’s article was contributed by L. Stewart Massad, MD, a Washington University School of Medicine gynecologic oncologist at Siteman Cancer Center.

What Happens When an Ovary Dies? by Stewart Massad

Take a look at this article from Science when you have a few minutes…

2009 Dance Your PhD contest: Want to dance your own thesis? Stay tuned to www.johnbohannon.org/dance.html where a CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS will be announced soon. Rather than a localized contest, the next round will be global. Scientists will video their own dances and post them online (e.g., to YouTube). The prize? Negotiations are underway to have the winners’ latest peer-reviewed publications interpreted by a professional dance company next year. Good luck and happy grooving.

I got started on this journey last night. As you may have already read, the proteome map for Arabidopsis thaliana was published online at Science yesterday. After I read the article, I started poking around on the website and noticed that the most recent issue of science is a special issue on Plant Genomes.

Science has been so kind as to gather a list of links to some additional articles which are related to the special issue. A few additional clicks via the and I found myself on the online multimedia feature, which includes

information graphics, video interviews, text, and images, explores how advances in plant genome research are contributing to our understanding of plant biology and evolution and translating into tangible benefits for society such as improved crop varieties.

Just a quick post to point out a great resource…Sequence Viewer (SV)!

The NCBI Sequence Viewer is being phased in to replace the graphical display option available from the Nucleotide and Protein databases. The functions included with the first release of this viewer are limited.

Read the SV help documentation (see the “?” in the upper right-hand corner of the main page) for more information.

Please consider participating in the bioinformatics-related research projects “Assessment of User Skills and Efficiency in the Application of Bioinformatics Resources to Answer Biological Questions” and “Exploring Models of Library-Based Bioinformatics Support Programs: Services, Staffing, Training, and Funding”

Who is Needed

Faculty, post-doctoral associates, graduate students, research staff and undergraduates, in the life sciences or basic biomedical sciences, age 21 and older.

Why You’re Needed

Participants in these national studies will help bioinformatics investigators understand how researchers use online resources (such as GenBank, BLAST, and PubMed) available from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The results of the research will have implications for bioinformatics training, database and tool design, and database and webpage interface design.

How to Participate

There are four ways to participate: a one hour online assessment, a one hour one-on-one observational session, or two focus groups – one covering researchers’ perceptions of NCBI resources, and the other covering library-based bioinformatics support services. Depending on the session, participants will receive a gift card or lunch.

1. One Hour Online Assessment

Use NCBI resources to answer biological questions. Your answers will be recorded online anonymously. Participants will receive a $5.00 Starbucks gift card.

Requirements: Must have experience using NCBI resources.

Friday, April 18
Room 601B, Becker Medical Library
8:15-9:15 am

2. One Hour One-On-One Observational Session

Use NCBI resources to answer biological questions, and describe the search strategies that you employ. Your descriptions will be audio recorded anonymously. Participants will receive a $10.00 Starbucks gift card.

Requirements: Must have experience using NCBI resources.

Friday, April 18
Room 601B, Becker Medical Library
Four sessions available:
9:30-10:30 am
10:45-11:45 am
2:00-3:00 pm
3:15-4:15 pm

3. Focus Group: Library-based Bioinformatics Services

Tell us your perceptions of library-based bioinformatics support services. Have you used your library’s services? What services are most important to you and why? Lunch will be served.

Requirements: Must have used your library’s bioinformatics support services, or have need for such services.

Thursday, April 17
Location: 201 Becker Medical Library (2nd floor conference room)
Noon – 1:30 pm

4. Focus Group: Bioinformatics Resources

Tell us your perceptions of NCBI and other bioinformatics resources, e.g. ease of use, how they do and do not meet your needs, etc. The discussion will be audio recorded anonymously. Lunch will be served.

Requirements: Must have experience using NCBI or other bioinformatics databases and resources.

Friday, April 18
Location: 201 Becker Medical Library (2nd floor conference room)
Noon-1:30 pm

To Register

To register, or for information about registration, please contact Kristi Holmes at holmeskr@wustl.edu. Be sure to specify for which session(s) you are registering, and put the words “NCBI study” in your email subject line.

For More Information

For questions about this research, contact the project PI, Michele Tennant, PhD, at tennantm@ufl.edu.

* Approved by University of Florida Institutional Review Board 02. Protocols #2007-U-0212 and #2007-U-0213. For use through 03-06-09. Please note that although the study focuses on usage of NBI resources, this research is being conducted independently of the NCBI. No government funds are being used in providing incentives for participants.

I can’t believe I missed this one. Science released a special issue on gene regulation about a week and a half ago. I guess it has been a crazy week - the only reason I noticed it is that someone left it out on a table in the library and my eye was drawn to the Pac Man-like vibe on the front cover:

COVER The many layers of gene regulation in a eukaryotic cell, envisioned as a video game. Transcription in the nucleus (green circle) proceeds to translation in the cytoplasm via genome topology, polymerase pausing, microRNA repression, RNA splicing, and riboswitch regulation. The special section begins on page 1781

The issue looks pretty good. Theres a video on gene regulation as well as a ton of interesting-sounding articles:

INTRODUCTION

• Freedom of Expression Guy Riddihough, Beverly A. Purnell, John Travis
• Video: Gene Regulation A video introduction focusing on RNA’s role in gene regulation and the evolution of life.

NEWS

• MicroRNAs Make Big Impression in Disease After Disease Jennifer Couzin
  Hunting for new ways to diagnose and treat common diseases, biologists and companies are racing to decipher the promise of these RNAs.

PERSPECTIVES

• Gene Regulation by Transcription Factors and MicroRNAs
  Oliver Hobert
• The Eukaryotic Genome as an RNA Machine
  Paulo P. Amaral, Marcel E. Dinger, Tim R. Mercer, John S. Mattick
• Multilevel Regulation of Gene Expression by MicroRNAs
  Eugene V. Makeyev, Tom Maniatis
• Transcription Regulation Through Promoter-Proximal Pausing of RNA Polymerase II
  Leighton J. Core, John T. Lis
• Gene Regulation in the Third Dimension
  Job Dekker
• Complex Riboswitches
  Ronald R. Breaker
• Evolution of Eukaryotic Transcription Circuits
  Brian B. Tuch, Hao Li, Alexander D. Johnson

I guess I know what I’ll be doing this weekend. I hope the weather cooperates so that I can read outdoors.

As you may know, budgetary constraints have forced the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) to suspend its educational programming. Included are courses such as the Field Guide to GenBank and NCBI Resources, the three-day Introduction to Molecular Biology Information Resources course and NAWBIS, the five-day NCBI Advanced Workshop for Bioinformatics Information Specialists. The last opportunity to take the three-day Introduction to Molecular Biology Resources course will be April 14-16, 2008 in St. Louis, MO at Becker Medical Library of Washington University School of Medicine. This course is approved for 20 CE contact hours by the Medical Library Association.

The course was previously full, but we were able to make arrangements to allow for expanded registration. This will enable more people to benefit from this amazing opportunity. Again, this will be the last chance to take this class in the foreseeable future, so I encourage you to sign up for training and take advantage of one of the best learning/sharing/networking opportunities available. Please forward this announcement to anyone who may be interested.

• Information about the course can be found here: Introduction to Molecular Biology Information Resources
• You may register on the Upcoming Courses page or at the NNLM NTCC page

Please contact Kristi Holmes at holmeskr@wustl.edu if you have any questions.

The Human Genome Epidemiology Network (HuGENet™) is a voluntary, international collaboration focused on assessing the role of human genome variation in health and disease at the population level. Since 2001, HuGENet™ has maintained a database of published, population-based epidemiologic studies of human genes extracted and curated from PubMed. The HuGE Navigator replaces earlier search tools for use with this database and provides additional applications for use by researchers and the public.

HuGE Navigator provides access to a continuously updated knowledge base in human genome epidemiology, including information on population prevalence of genetic variants, gene-disease associations, gene-gene and gene- environment interactions, and evaluation of genetic tests.

HuGE Navigator has recently collaborated with Entrez Gene:

A link to HuGE Navigator has been added to the menu at the right side of the full report page in Entrez Gene. From HuGE Navigator, there is a link back to Entrez Gene. HuGE Navigator supplies Entrez Gene with the PubMed identifiers for citations HuGE Navigator staff curated for human genes.

For more information about HuGE Navigator, see this recently published paper:

A Navigator for Human Genome Epidemiology Nat Genet 40, 124 - 125 (2008) by Wei Yu, Marta Gwinn, Melinda Clyne, Ajay Yesupriya & Muin J Khoury

Off topic? Perhaps.

Introducing Gmail Custom Time: Be on time. Every time.

Beta User Testimonials

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Miriam S., Delivery girl

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This feature allows people to manipulate and mislead people with falsified time data. Time is a sacred truth that should never be tampered with.”
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and gDay with MATE from Australia “Search tomorrow’s web, today!”

Beta User Testimonials

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“I wish this was around for the election - it would have saved me a packet on polling day.”
Name withheld, unsuccessful candidate for House of Representatives, 2007 Federal election, NSW

“This is old news. I read about this announcement yesterday on Google.”
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“This is awesome. I can now check the questions ahead of time and impress my girlfriend by knowing all the answers to ‘Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?’“
Wazza, Qld