Basic Sciences


Research, Computing, and the Internet

    dot Summary
    dot Welcome and Introduction
    dot Research in the Medical School
    dot Resources in the Medical School
    dot Research Tools
    dot Resources available on the Chicago Campus
    dot Resources available at Northwestern
    dot Resources available on the Internet
    dot Electronic resources at NU not available on the Internet
    dot Computers and Research
    dot What is Information?
    dot How is Information different than Data?
    dot Biological Research and Computation
    dot Communicating via computer
    dot Collection of Links

      dot NUMS Basic Science Links
      dot General Searching and Information Services
      dot Telnet servers at Northwestern University
      dot TN3270 servers (IBM Mainframe)

    dot NEWSGROUPs and LISTSERVs

Summary

This document is the outline of a short workshop given at Northwestern University on 9/10/97 to the incoming IGP students. The workshop discussed the use of computers in biological research, the implications of computers and their application to managing biological information. The workshop highlights some of the resources available in the Medical School and briefly covers the impact of electronic publishing (specifically the Internet) on biological research. All links used in the workshop can be found in this document. Some of the discussions are included as well.

Warren A. Kibbe, Ph.D., © 1996-97 Northwestern University

Welcome and Introduction

Make-up of the incoming class

Familiarity with computers

Research in the Medical School

IGP Bulletin

Searchable Faculty Index

Basic Science Departments

The Basic Science departments in the Northwestern University Medical School are committed to educating top tier researchers in basic research and medicine. The Basic Science departments are highly interdisciplinary and attract outstanding researchers from across the globe. Researchers in the Basic Science departments accept students from the IGP, MSTP, NUIN, Biotech, and IBiS M.S., PH.D., and M.D./Ph.D. training programs. Students in these programs are encouraged to pursue cross-disciplinary projects and coursework.

Resources in the Medical School

There are several core facilities in the Medical School that you should be aware of. Two of these resources you already know or will be aware of by the end of the day. These are the Weinberg Medical Informatics Center and the Galter Health Sciences Library, in particular the Learning Resources Center in the GHSL. GHSL also runs the Medline database, and it is accessable by telnet, a windows client, or by the Web. Learning to use these resources effectively will make your coursework and your research as a graduate student much more enjoyable and productive. Other resources that you should be aware of include the Core Facilities in the Medical School
official page

There are five core facilities in the Medical School that are open to all members of the Northwestern University Community, and some to outside users as well. The Core Facilities are:

dot The Biotech Facility
dot The Cell Imaging Facility
dot Laser-Based Microscopy and Digital Imaging Facility
dot The Cell Sorting Facility
dot The Digital Darkroom
dot The Macromolecular Crystallography and Biochemical Computation Resource

Faculty Research Database

The Office of Research has purchased a one year subscription to the Community of Science (COS) faculty research database, grant information, and other on-line services. You can directly search for Northwestern Faculty by expertise.

A new page for searching all official Basic Science Faculty Web pages. Two search engines are available for boolean ranked searching (SWISH) and similarity ranked searching (Apple eg).

Research Tools

Tools made available by NUMS Research Computing in the Basic Sciences
   click here for the latest postings
dot Oligonucleotide Properties Calculator 06/11/97
dot Primer Picking Tool (MIT Primer3 algorithm) 06/17/97
dot Prophet 5 statistical and DNA analysis software package 8/25/97

Resources available on the Chicago Campus

Resources available at Northwestern


Resources available on the Internet

Electronic resources at NU not available on the Internet

Computers and Research

What is Information?

How is Information different than Data?

Biological Research and Computation

Communicating via computer


Collection of Links

NUMS Basic Science Links

General Searching and Information Services


Telnet servers at Northwestern University


TN3270 servers (IBM Mainframe)

LUIS is the online card catalog for Northwestern University


NEWSGROUPs and LISTSERVs


"Science.Bio." newsgroups and listservs:

                       Overview of sci.bio.*
========================================================================

* sci.bio.misc -- By far the oldest, most widely read, and oftenmost
        active newsgroup for discussion of biology, sci.bio.misc(prev.
        sci.bio) welcomes discussions of all topics having to dowith
        biology, especially those for which no other newsgroupexists.

* sci.bio.ecology -- This newsgroup is gated to ECOLOG-L, a mailing
        list of over 2000 subscribers.  ECOLOG-L is run by DavidInouye,
        a specialist on pollination biology, vialistserv@umdd.umd.edu.
        David Inouye "filters" the mailing list to catchmis-directed
        subscription requests and off-topic articles;  the newsgroupis
        not moderated.  Archived on the host site via LISTSERV,which
        supports full-text searches by e-mail.

* sci.bio.entomology.lepidoptera -- Gated to the LEPS-L mailinglist,
        run by Larry Gall, an entomologist and museum information
        systems administrator, via listserv@yalevm.cis.yale.edu.  It
        is a forum for discussion of all things lepidopterological
        (re butterflies and moths), among amateurs andprofessionals.
        Archived on the host site via LISTSERV, which supports full-
        text searches by e-mail.

* sci.bio.ethology -- Gated to the ETHOLOGY mailing list, run byJarmo
        Saarikko, an animal behaviorist, vialistserv@searn.sunet.se,
        for the discussion of animal behavior and behavioralecology.
        This list has a strong European contingent.  Archived on the
        host site via LISTSERV.

* sci.bio.evolution -- Gated to the EVOLUTION mailing list, run by
        Josh Hayes, a marine biologist, via evolution-request@
        pogo.cqs.washington.edu.  To discourage the permanent debate
        about evolution vs creationism from moving from talk.origins
        into this newsgroup, Josh Hayes moderates it.  The newsgroup
        is archived on sunsite.unc.edu, in the Ecology and Evolution
        section, where it can be searched and read via gopher.

* sci.bio.herp -- Gated to the HERP-L mailing list, run by Michael
        Eisen, an herpetologist, viaherp-l-request@xtal220.harvard.edu.
        For discussion of the biology, ecology, evolution,biodiversity,
        and conservation of amphibians and reptiles.  Archived onthe
        host site via LISTPROC.

* sci.bio.technology -- Gated to the BIOTECH mailing list, run by
        Dan Jacobs, via listserv@umdd.umd.edu.  BIOTECH ismoderated,
        and has over 500 subscribers.  BIOTECH was one of the first
        mailing lists to have a gateway to the Usenet "mainstream".
        It is devoted to biotechnology and more applied biological
        research in general.  Archived on the host site via LISTSERV.

        +----------------------- Note! ----------------------+
        |                                                    |
        |  So far as I know, the other sci.bio.* newsgroups  |
        |   do *not*  have mailing lists attached.  Sorry!   |
        |                                                    |
        +----------------------------------------------------+

To subscribe to any of the mailing lists mentioned above (distinctfrom
the newsgroups!), send e-mail to the address given in the blurb(above),
and include the text

                subscribe <listname> <Your Name>

        +-------------------- An Example --------------------+
        |                                                    |
        |  Someone named Ima Biologist, who wanted to join   |
        |  BIOTECH, which is linked to sci.bio.technology,   |
        |  would send e-mail containing the message:         |
        |                                                    |
        |       subscribe biotech Ima Biologist              |
        |  to                                                |
        |       listserv@umdd.umd.edu                        |
        |                                                    |
        +----------------------------------------------------+