Internet Resources for Biotechnology

Internet Resources for Biotechnology

Starting Points

Some of these guides are more up to date than others. In general, fewer guides are being maintained as search engines become more capable of identifying useful Web pages on specific topics. A list of search engines and other Web access tools can be found at the Library's Web Search Tools page.

National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)
Extensive site of resources and information from the National Library of Medicine, including a newsletter, bioinformatics databases, and a link to PubMed MEDLINE, the major medical bibliographic database.
Microbes.info: The Microbiology Information Portal
Includes categorized group of links to a variety of microbiology and disease sites. Categories include “Resources,” links to sites by type of microbiology (food, industrial, medical, etc); “Feature Articles,” which lists specific studies of individual diseases or phenomena; “Spotlight,” which includes “hot germ news,” “disease watch,” and groups of web sites from organizations and societies; and “Image Den,” which spotlights a few images of interest. Also includes a FAQ section.

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Biotechnology

AgBiotechNet
From CABI Publishing (CAB Abstracts), a combination of fee-based and free services, including news, reviews, book chapters, reports, abstracts, calendar, jobs and conference material on agricultural biotech.
Biosafety - BioTrack
From the OECD: “BioTrack Online focuses on information related to the regulatory oversight of products of modern biotechnology, including genetically engineered organisms or transgenic organisms, in the field of the environmental safety and the food and feed safety.”
Biotech Chronicles
Biotech Chronicles is a brief history of biotech discoveries. It includes essays on genetics and DNA research, profiles of some of the influential individuals who helped build the biotechnology industry, and a series of time lines for the emergence of biotechnology.
Biotechnology Regulatory Services (USDA)
Information page and links from a federal program regulating the field testing, movement, and importation of genetically engineered (GE) organisms that are known to be, or could be plant pests. BRS issues various types of permits for each of these activities, and a Compliance & Enforcement program inspects, audits, and oversees activities under the permit process.
DOE HGP Genetics Primers
Background information on various aspects of Genomics from the U.S. Department of Energy's Human Genome Management Information System. Originally based on a textbook, written in 1992 and updated in 1997, it covers basic aspects of molecular genetics, an overview of the Human Genome Project and its impacts on society. It provides basic definitions of many of the concepts used in biotechnology. Useful for beginners and for communicating with the general public.
BioABACUS
“BioABACUS is a searchable database of abbreviations and acronyms in Biotechnology . . . [which] include the name of the term, its meaning, the category in which it is mostly used and, when available, a link in which additional information for the term can be found.” Also includes journal name abbreviations.
Glossary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
An easy to use list of very short definitions of 3000 terms related to biotechnology, bioinformatics and realated areas in molecular biology. Specific terms may be searched or the list may be browsed by a particular letter of the alphabet. Based on the book of the same title by David Glick, published by Portland Press in 1996.
Resources for Genetic and Cytogenetic Nomenclature
From the Council of Science Editors, a preview of a new section of the forthcoming 7th edition of Scientific Style and Format. Lists resources that cover rules or standards for naming genes and describing chromosomes. Lists general references and specific titles for individual organisms or sub-cellular components.

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Bioengineering

Galaxy: Bioengineering
Simple guide to academic institutions, database collections, and organizations.
In the same series, see also: Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology.
Biomedical Engineering Resources
Links to academic institutions, organizations, and relevant databases. A Georgia Tech Library Resource Guide.
Johns Hopkins Department of Biomedical Engineering
Basic page of information which includes research summaries, information about seminars, and employment opportunities.
Computational Molecular Biology at NIH
Links to many tools and programs available from the National Institutes of Health for sequence analysis and molecular biology, including databases, protocols and tutorials.
The Bioengineering Group Inc.
Private consulting group specializing in soil and water quality. “The Bioengineering Group, Inc. is a consulting firm with expertise in the use of vegetation for construction projects designed to optimize environmental benefits ... in the field of bioengineering for erosion control,water quality, and habitat restoration.” Includes several useful links and a general bibliography on bioengineering.
International Conference on Systems Biology
“The 9th International Conference on Systems Biology continues an annual series of conferences initiated by Hiroaki Kitano in Tokyo in 2000. Subsequent conferences were held at Caltech in Pasadena, and at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. In 2003, the ICSB was held at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2004 in Heidelberg, Germany and in 2005 in Boston. The most recent meetings were held in Yokohama 2006 and in Long Beach 2007.”

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Molecular Databases

Nucleic Acids Research Molecular Biology Database Collection
A list, by type of database, from the well-known journal publication. Can be rearranged into an alpha list and by a type-list subdivided by specific function. Updated annually.
Biology Links
This page includes links to a number of model organism databases, banks and tables, and to a number of genetic databases. Maintained by the Dept. of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Harvard University.
Databases for Molecular Biology
Includes nucleotide databases, protein databases, chromosome maps, enzyme databases, etc. From the Computational Molecular Biology at NIH Web site.
GenBank: National Center for Biotechnology Information
“GenBank is the NIH genetic sequence database, an annotated collection of all publicly available DNA sequences (Nucleic Acids Research 1999 Jan 1;27(1):12-7). It is part of the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration, which is comprised of the DNA DataBank of Japan (DDBJ), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), and GenBank at NCBI.”
Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor College of Medicine
Human Genome Sequencing, Dictyostelium sequencing, Drosophila sequencing, Mouse chromosome Y, cDNA sequencing.
IMGT: The International ImMunoGeneTics Database
This database specializes in immunoglobulins (Ig), T-cell receptors (TcR) and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules of vertebrate species. A tool, IMGT/DNAPLOT, allows Ig, TcR and MHC sequence analysis.
MEROPS - the Peptidases Database
“The database provides a catalogue and structure-based classification of peptidases (i.e. all proteolytic enzymes). This is a large group of proteins (nearly 2% of all gene products) that is of particular importance in medicine and biotechnology.”
The Center for Molecular Modeling (CMM)
Many molecular modelling programs are available through the link “Research Tools on the Web,” including Molecules To Go, a World Wide Web (WWW) Forms interface which facilitates access (browsing, searching and retrieval) to the molecular structure data contained within the Brookhaven Protein Data Bank (PDB).
RCSB Protein Data Bank (PDB)
“The single international repository for the processing and distribution of 3-D macromolecular structure data primarily determined experimentally by X-ray crystallography and NMR.” The PDB includes 10132 coordinate entries, 9422 proteins, 698 nucleic acids, and12 carbohydrates. RCSB is Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics.

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Biotechnology Products and Services

LifeSciencesWorld
Biotech news, forums and publications, with a focus on company announcements of products and services. Also includes job listings.
American Type Culture Collection
BIO: Biotechnology Industry Organization
Gene Browser: The Biotechnology & Gene Therapy Web 'Cite' from Nature Technology Corp.
National Biotech Register from Barry, Inc., Professional Directories
BioBase Biological Databases, including the Proteome BioKnowledge(R) Library
Protein Data Bank from the Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics
SciWeb, the Life Science Home Page: Online Resources For Biotechnology Professionals

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Associations and Organizations

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This page is maintained by Frederick Getze, Reference Department.
Questions or comments?
Last modified: 08/04/08