SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
DIGITAL BRIEFS
as well as scientific conclusions, ideas for further research, and autobiographical
NEW SOFTWARE AND WEBSITES FOR THE CHEMICAL ENTERPRISE
Software É la Π is a hybrid electronic laboratory note book system that combines the flexibility and proof-of-invention legality of paper notebooks with the data-handling capabil ities of electronic systems. Data can be stored, searched, and reused; routine calcu lations are automated; tasks can be initiat ed with a single click; and, when the exper iment is complete, a report can be produced to satisfy intellectual property requirements. Scientists enter experimental details such as the reaction, the apparatus, methods, and results. Elan automatically calculates mo lecular weights and formulas from reactions and can scale reactions after changes have been made. Scientists can search for and re trieve past experimental procedures, copy reactions and other experimental details from existing experiments, or simply open and rename an existing experiment. MDL, http://www.mdli.com Maxi-Soft Right-To-Know Pro is a Win dows-based software program for making complicated chemical warning labels quick ly and easily It allows the user to select a chemical from a database of more than 1,200 chemicals and automatically format a label to comply with current chemical hazard label standards. Labels can then be
printed in color with a desktop printer on adhesive-backed paper, vinyl, or polyester. The software includes a library of target or gans and safety pictographs for all the nec essary health hazard warnings. K-Sun, http://www.ksun.com
Databases NIST/EPA/NIH Mass Spectral Li b r a r y , or N I S T 9 8 , is a c o l l e c t i o n o f 42
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electron-ionization mass spectra. Each spectrum was critically examined by ex perienced mass spectrometrists. T h e database includes complete, high-quali ty spectra that were either measured specifically for the library or taken from major practical collections. This library of data is widely licensed in the mass spectrometers of many commercial in strument manufacturers. The database includes 107,886 compounds with spec tra and most chemical structures and 13,205 compounds with replicate spec tra. It is available in ASCII and Windows versions. NIST, http://www.nist.gov/srd/
Online Linus Pauling Research Notebooks is a website presenting digitized versions of the Nobel Laureate's original bound notebooks. Forty-six research notebooks span the years 1922 to 1994 and cover the myriad scientific fields in which Paul ing worked. T h e approximately 7,500 pages contain many of Pauling's labora tory calculations and experimental data,
musings, http://osulibrary.orst.edu/ specialcollections/rnb/index.html
Organic Chemistry
Resources
Worldwide is an organic chemistry metasite geared toward synthetic organ ic chemists involved in academic or in dustrial research. The site's aim is to col lect and annotate "all useful organic chemistry sites." It is divided into sec tions on literature, laboratory resources (The Bench), spectroscopy and spec trometry (Structural Analysis), nomen clature and teaching (The Desk), and conferences and organizations (Com munication). The Literature section con tains links to more than 75 journals, 14 free and several commercial databases, dissertation collections, reviews, guides, patents, and current-awareness sources. Resources for laboratory work include links to chemical product databases, lab oratory safety bulletins, and products and services. http://www.organicworld wide.net/ Digital Briefs is written by Janet Dodd, who can be reached
[email protected].
FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS Biowire.com is a resource for life scientists. It offers more than 12,500 product reviews written by scientists, including experiment-specific tips from a user perspective. More than 30,000 researchers have registered and are using the site to gain specific in-depth information and advice from fellow scientists about the specialized products required for genetic research, such as enzymes, antibodies, and reagent kits. Biowire.com also offers researchers free software for performing genetic analysis, http://www.biowire.com The GenomeZone o n l i n e service provides immediate access to the DoubleTwist An notated Human Genome Database, which consists of more than 35 integrated public and proprietary data sets, and the exclusive Annotated Human and Mouse Gene Indices, which are target-rich databases of clustered expressed sequence tags used to annotate the genome. These data sets offer comparative genomic information as well as gene predic tion validation. The GenomeZone service is designed for organizations that need access to high-quality genomic data for their target identification and validation efforts but do not require a high-throughput solution. DoubleTwist, http://www.doubletwist.com Pro ID software provides fast, accurate, error- and modification-tolerant automated pro tein identification from LC/MS/MS data for proteomics studies and enables scientists to identify proteins efficiently as targets for therapy or as disease markers. The novel Inter rogator database search engine provides high-throughput protein identification from un interpreted tandem MS data. Besides finding specific (expected) modifications, such as oxidation or phosphorylation, it can even identify modifications in the absence of any prior knowledge or information about them. It also identifies the particular region of the pep tides in which unexpected modifications are located. Applied Biosystems, http:// home.appliedbiosystems.com/
HTTP://PUBS.ACS.ORG/CEN
