The Ultimate in Scientific Collaboration

If you’ve ever spent time looking for a specialized piece of research equipment or for a lab  that has an expertise in a particular technique, you are going to love the new online tool recently launched by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI). The CFI Research Facilities Navigator is a searchable online directory of CFI-funded research facilities across Canada and the expertise they offer. All labs and facilities listed in this directory have received funding from the CFI or use CFI-funded infrastructure and are open to working with business. There are currently over 360 laboratories from 63 universities and research hospitals across Canada listed in the Navigator.

On the other hand, if you are an academic lab with CFI funding, the Navigator serves as a perfect place for you to advertize your lab’s marketable skills and to earn money by selling your services to the business community.

The CFI Navigator has placed the power of collaboration into the hands of academic laboratories and small biotechnology companies and is the perfect tool for facilitation a bench to bedside research strategy.

To explore research facilities available across Canada, visit CFI’s Navigator website.

Treasure from Deep Diving the Biotechnology Web

We came across this supplement from the National Post:
Investing in Life Sciences

Click here to review it.

Site Found: Personal Proteomics

Personal Proteomics Let the transparent journey of personal proteomics begin! Please visit this tecnical site.
Site Found: http://personalproteomics.wordpress.com/

Biotechnology science fiction on your Kindle this weekend

WHAT ELSE?

The Hunger Games Trilogy

http://www.amazon.com/The-Hunger-Games-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B004XJRQUQ/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1332520673&sr=1-2

Appropriate Genomic Data Analysis Techniques

This gem was originally posted in August 2010, however, in consideration of our post on reference gene selection posted earlier this week, I thought that now would be a good time to share this information once again. Enjoy!

We have done many posts on the importance of appropriate sample preparation and sample handling techniques in order to ensure that you get top quality, reliable results from your genomic or proteomic experiments. Past posts include:

• protein extraction
• protein solubilization
• removing salt from your protein sample
• removing contaminant from your protein sample
  
• proper sample handling for real-time PCR (MIQE tutorial and related post)

However, proper sample handling alone is not enough to ensure accurate information. When working with very large data sets such as those involved in microarray analysis, it is imperative to ensure proper data handling and analysis. While perusing the GenOmics Facebook page from Genome Alberta , I came across a video from Dr. Laura Scott of the University of Michigan on handling and analyzing data from a genome-wide association study. In the video, Dr. Scott talks about the importance of defining your data analysis process prior to commencing your study and appropriate ways of storing the data, performing quality control analysis and viewing and storing results.

OpenFreezer: The ultimate open-source program for tracking reagent collection

Researchers at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital, led by Dr. Karen Colwill and Marina Olhovsky, have developed an open-source, web-based tool to track both large-scale datasets and individual reagents, allowing for easy access, sharing and management of data across various projects and research groups. The software is described in the August issue of Nature Methods.
Before now, scientists had limited affordable resources to track and manage the rapid growth of large-scale reagent collections.

“At the Lunenfeld, we have extensive DNA and RNAi collections that are shared among multiple laboratories,” said Dr. Colwill, senior author of the study and a staff scientist in Dr. Tony Pawson’s lab. “OpenFreezer efficiently manages these reagents and allows us to access them as needed. Designed by biologists and backed by powerful computer technologies, OpenFreezer offers other scientists an affordable and effective route to manage and archive their own reagents.”

Currently, the software is being used by more than 150 scientists at the Lunenfeld covering multiple expertise areas including cancer biology, systems biology and proteomics. Dr. Colwill expects that scientists internationally will utilize OpenFreezer for research endeavours across multiple aspects of biomedical research.

OpenFreezer offers scientists several advantages including:

• Permanent storage and archiving at a single site, with simultaneous access for an unlimited number of users;
• Ability to add new reagents and customize existing ones;
• Three central modules that allow users to track information on an unlimited number of labs, users and projects; assess the properties of different reagents; and determine the locations of a reagent’s physical preparations.

“Computer processing power makes a great difference in its potential to expedite genetic research via sophisticated data warehousing and management tools, such as OpenFreezer,” says Marina Olhovsky, a software engineer in Dr. Pawson’s lab and first author of the study. “OpenFreezer provides a foundation for the operation of a laboratory within an enterprise software application framework. We encourage biologists and computer scientists to assist us with the future development of OpenFreezer.”

Marina wishes to dedicate OpenFreezer to her mother, Larisa Olhovsky, who lost an untimely battle with cancer in 2006. “This is Mom’s legacy. I dedicate this work in her memory as a guiding light for biological researchers on their path towards winning the battle against cancer and other diseases,” says Marina.

The software is freely available for demonstration and download under the GNU General Public License on the OpenFreezer website at www.openfreezer.org.

Citation: OpenFreezer: a reagent information management software system. M. Olhovsky et al. Nature Methods 8, 612-613 doi:10.1038/nmeth.1658

Thanks to the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute for this story.

Canadian Scientists: Never leave the bench!

Now you can shop online for all your research needs.

Benefits of using Bio-Rad.com:

• Place your orders online
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To get started click here.