Mar 22 2010

A beautiful example of how a “negative” result in science can still be enormously valuable.

What can SNPs tell us about breast cancer risk? Not much, researchers say

March 17, 2010 | 4:29 pm
There are certainly many genetic mutations that increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer. The most famous examples are variations in the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 (whose names are short for BReast CAncer).

More common are the single-letter DNA changes called single nucleotide polymorphisms– or SNPs for short. Researchers have identified many SNPs that appear to be associated with breast cancer because they are more common in women who have the disease.

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Jan 27 2010

DNALinux – Linux for Bioinformatics

DNALinux Virtual Desktop Py4Bio is ready!. This edition is called Py4Bio because is the Linux distribution included in the book Python for Bioinformatics.

Common desktop programs used in Bioinformatics are included in DNALinux. Using VMWare you can run Linux and Windows programs side by side.

DNALinux is also a webserver. You don’t have to set up an Apache web server and install CGI programs since DNALinux has them pre-installed and ready to run. With a server you can make a BLAST from your host computer.

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Jan 10 2010

A computer game that can help save life!

–> click to enlarge …

Foldit is a revolutionary new computer game enabling you to contribute to important scientific research. This page describes the science behind Foldit and how your playing can help.

The Science Behind Foldit