“We’re pleased to announce the launch of our new BioMed Central YouTube channel, which brings together videos of our authors and editors talking about their work, BioMed Central’s journals, and the benefits of open access publishing.”

This three-day workshop is aimed at scientists at all levels who want to increase their knowledge of the bioinformatics tools available for use in their research activities. The first two days will be dedicated to the “EBI Bioinformatics Roadshow”, organized and led by instructors from the European Bioinformatics Institute of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. The third day will be devoted to a hands-on look at the resources offered by the Spanish National Bioinformatics Institute(INB).

Summary: There are many ftp or http servers storing data required for biological research. While some download applications are available, there is no user-friendly download application with a graphical interface specifically designed and adapted to meet the requirements of bioinformatics. BioDownloader is a program for downloading and updating files from ftp and http servers. It is optimized to work robustly with large numbers of files. It allows the selective retrieval of only the required files (batch downloads, multiple file masks, ls-lR file parsing, recursive search, recent updates, etc.). BioDownloader has a built-in repository containing the settings for common bioinformatics file-synchronization needs, including the Protein Data Bank (PDB) and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) databases. It can post-process downloaded files, including archive extraction and file conversions.

Availability: The program can be installed from http://dunbrack.fccc.edu/BioDownloader. The software is freely available for both non-commercial and commercial users under the BSD license.

Operating system Compatibility

• Microsoft Windows® 98 / ME / 2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista
• Mac OS with installed a Windows® virtual machine

Google takes stake in genomics info startup

STANFORD, California (Reuters) – Google Inc. has taken a small stake in a biotech company that was co-founded by the wife of one of Google’s founders, Sergey Brin, Google said in a U.S. regulatory filing on Tuesday.
Google said it had invested $3.9 million in the company, called 23andMe Inc., giving the Mountain View, California-based Google a minority stake in the start-up, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

About 23andMe:

23andMe is a privately held company developing new ways to help you make sense of your own genetic information.

Even though your body contains trillions of copies of your genome, you’ve likely never read any of it. Our goal is to connect you to the 23 paired volumes of your own genetic blueprint (plus your mitochondrial DNA), bringing you personal insight into ancestry, genealogy, and inherited traits. By connecting you to others, we can also help put your genome into the larger context of human commonality and diversity.

Latest supplements published in BMC Bioinformatics
Semantic e-Science in Biomedicine

Open Access