Newsletter No. 5, April 1997
Structural Biology in Europe
Welcome to the second on-line edition of Structural Biology in Europe (STRUBE). For new readers, some
background information is available at the foot of the document and there are details on how to add your name
to our mailing list. Issue no.4 is still on-line if you would like to visit it!
Michael Geisow
Biodigm
|
3rd Call |
Full Programme & abstracts |
David Hulmes |
Terri Atwood |
protein science |
subscribing, contributing |
The last Call for Proposals under the Area 6 "Structural Biology" part of the Biotechnology (1994-98) Programme
will be launched by the European Commission in June 1997 with a deadline for submission in October 1997. The
programme includes proposals which address all of the topics: '3-D structure Determination', 'improvement of techniques'
and 'biomolecules with desired functions'. Further information and a list of the projects approved in the last Call can be
found on the Commission Web Biotechnology site.
Since 1994 the European Commission has been gathering information on protein engineering & structural biology activities in Europe in a unique study, the results of which will be published in the near future. This booklet will include a considerable amount of new information on 'Structural Biology' in the member states and Norway with many centres being described and contact details given. New in the second report will be contributions from European biotechnology and pharamceutical industries. The first report (1994) is still available on-line at Birkbeck College. One of the driving forces behind the reports has been the perceived importance of Structural Biology for future health and wealth in Europe. There are certainly benefits to be gained from co-ordinating aspects of the research, especially given finite research funds. Ways of improving the sharing of information in Europe (as an aid to co-ordination of effort and funding) are explored in the report.
The European Commission wishes to continue to gather information and is making this part of the final call for proposals in the "Horizontal Activities: Scientific Studies" portion of the call."Co-ordination between Community and Member States Research Programmes". Studies making an inventory of, analysing and comparing research activities in the field of biotechnology of sub-areas (e.g. Structural Biology) will be supported. In general this type of study attracts a maximum of 50,000ECU support over a duration of 1 year. 10,000ECU must be used in the organisation or a workshop.
Industry platforms are very visible to the European Commission and help to determine the direction, content and level of funding in the Work Programme. Members may also enjoy fast-track access to the results emerging from EU-funded research and can improve their 'networking' at an European level. This is especially true for small companies, of course. Each Platform has between 10 and 30 members, meeting 2-4 times a year. The first meeting of a protoype Structural Biology Industry Platform (SBIP) is scheduled as part of the 6th conference on Perspectives on Protein Engineering to be held at Norwich 28June - 1 July 1997. An agenda for this (by-invitation) satellite meeting has been published.
The full scientific programme, on-line abstracts and delegate list have now been published (please visit the conference site through the above link). The meeting will be held at the new John Innes Conference Centre, Norwich, UK 28 June - 1 July 1997. A strong international speaker programme has been assembled (including Craig Venter, President of Research at The Institute for Genomic Research, Amos Bairoch, founder of the SWISS-PROT database at Geneva University, Iain Campbell, University of Oxford and many others).
You can advertise Structural Biology or Drug Discovery meetings and courses here for free, provided you provide contact information for yourself and email the details exactly in the style shown (no need to fill in forms). Visit the calendar
Collaboration in Bioinformatics on the WWW
Terri Attwood
Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
University College London
London WC1E 6BT, UK
Today, the Web is the most popular vehicle for distributing bio-information. The `information superhighway' was initially used essentially to ship data, but we are now witnessing an exciting shift away from data dissemination per se to the use of emerging Web technologies in transmitting concepts.
During the last year, Java has played a pivotal role in elevating our sights beyond simple data access and information retrieval, to the loftier goals of visualisation and interactive data manipulation. Java is an object-oriented network programming language that allows interactive use of software over the Web. The programs are termed applets - these are small applications that are launched from a server by being embedded in HTML pages.
The success of new technologies depends on a number of factors. Not least of these is the scale of learning curves that meet developers as they try to become familiar with the new tools and concepts. The learning process is usually repeated, and the same pitfalls encountered, by all who embrace the new technology for the first time. But the emergence of Java as a tool for bioinformaticians has followed a rather different path as the revolutionary potential of the language has been recognised: for the first time, rather than delivering simple static pictures and forms, it was perceived that Web browsers could serve interactive tools. In the ensuing race to turn programming possibilities into software realities, developers have fought shy of reinventing the wheel, and new collaborative programming paradigms have been born.
An open approach
The first of these efforts was the bioWidget Consortium (a collaboration between Berkeley, JAX and the University of
Pennsylvania). Their aim is to provide bioWidgets (libraries for rapid development of applets) to the molecular biology
community. Being able to access a common pool of software components, researchers may build their own applications,
shaping the functionality to their own needs rather than having to invest in monolithic packages that attempt to suit all users.
Complementary endeavours at the EBI have led to the formation of a BioObjects mailing list, a forum for discussion and exchange of ideas and experiences based on CORBA technology. The EBI are using CORBA to provide a coherent framework within which biological databases can interoperate. As developers gain experience, the focus of the group will move towards the specification of biological objects.
Another effort (a collaboration between University College London, Pfizer Ltd., Zeneca and Cyberdynamics) has resulted in the development of the first fully-functional bioinformatics application in Java. This is CINEMA, a Colour INteractive Editor for Multiple Alignments. The applet is embedded in a comprehensive help file, so instructions on its use are immediately to hand. Program input is highly flexible, allowing users both to extend and enhance pre-existing alignments, and to generate alignments from scratch. The applet is easy to use, exploiting scroll bars and familiar click, drag and drop mouse actions to manipulate the display. Results may be saved in a variety of formats and can be printed directly from the browser.
CINEMA is the first component of a modular network-oriented analysis package. The applet can be extended in a flexible manner by dynamically loading new classes to `plug in' additional functionality. With this open approach, the aim is to permit multiple centres to develop and deploy extensions to the applet through construction of custom pluglets, allowing the package to grow rapidly. To date, two pluglets have been designed: a structure display module, which links sequences to features of biological interest, by allowing visualisation of conserved motifs in a 3D context; and a six-frame translator, which allows translation of DNA sequences and uploading of results directly into the alignment applet.
Applications
Manual colour alignment programs have found wide application in protein sequence pattern recognition, especially in the
elucidation of characteristic motifs and protein family fingerprints. Indeed, they are now standard tools for preparation of
entries for PRINTS, an evolving database of characteristic family signatures that complements the PROSITE dictionary of
patterns. CINEMA extends these concepts, furnishing the benefits of intuitive, colour-aided alignment preparation and
visualisation over the Internet, and facilitating pattern recognition and motif identification. The applet has now been
integrated into individual PRINTS Web pages, allowing users to invoke the source alignments for given entries, and hence
to visualise and customise them at will.
CINEMA has also been integrated into an interactive bioinformatics Web tutorial, which now provides the practical component of UCL's final year course in Bioinformatics, and also contributes the Introduction to Bioinformatics in the Birkbeck virtual course in Principles of Protein Structure. The tutorial is unique in providing a hands-on practical in this important discipline, and the incorporation of applets strengthens and enhances its interactive nature. Novel teaching devices of this type are increasingly important in an emerging field in which training is still badly needed.
Conclusion
The emergence of new Web technologies such as Java and CORBA has engendered a lively collaborative spirit in the
bioinformatics community. The cooperative projects that have grown avoid costly duplication of effort, encourage global
communication, allow effective convergence to a set of standards, inspire innovation and provide much-needed, novel tools
in a rapidly- moving arena.
Please contact us if you have ideas for collaborating on the CINEMA and BioStandards projects - we would welcome your input!
Please send any URLs you think would be of broad use and or interest.
| Very large list of bioscience WWW links put together by Amos Bairoch of the University of Geneva | |
| More resources... | |
| Teaching and learning biotechnology | |
| Comprehensive Molecular Biology protocols (monastic devotion to duty) | |
| Hungarian EMBNet node & the Institute for Protein & Biochemistry Research (Godollo) | |
| Gerard J Kleywegt, Uppsala University (this was broken in the 1994 Structural Biology on-line material) | |
| DG12 Biotech Programmes (now lists those successful in round 2 of the Structural Biology Area 6 Call for Papers). | |
| DG12 Biomedicine Programmes | |
| DG12 Specific Programmes |
The £12m Progamme formally closed for further applications in June 1996. The programme still has projects on-going, but has seen a number of successes, including a large number of new protein 3D-structure solved by NMR and x-ray crystallography. One of the world's first fully operational 750MHz NMR instruments for macromolecular work was also built with Programme support. The final dissemination event will be held in London at the Society for Chemical Industry, 14/15 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PS, from 9:30 am.
Development & Validation of genetic algorithms for flexible protein ligand docking
Gareth Jones (Sheffield) & Robin Taylor (CCDC, Cambridge)
Protein Structural Science
Mark Bycroft (MRC labs, Cambridge)
Protein Structure-function studies
Martin Noble (OCMS, Oxford)
Protein & peptide design
Janet Thornton (UCL, London)
Genetic Engineering of antibodies
Rachel MacCarthy (Bath)
Engineering antibodies for the immunotherapy of cancer
Richard Begent (Royal Free Hospital)
Continuous affinity selection of recombinant bacteria
(Jon Sayers, Sheffield)
Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy as a biophysical tool
(Clive Roberts, Nottingham)
Concluding remarks
(Mike Geisow, Programme Manager)
For an application form, please email Teddy Gomez or fax him on 0181 943 2767
Frontiers of protein structure prediction IRBM, Pomezia, Italy 7-20 October 1997.
Organised by Tim Hubbard (Cambridge) and Anna Tramontano (Pomezia). The instructuors ar Geoff Barton, Tim Hubbard, David Jones, Manfred Sippl, Alfonso Valencia, with lectures by Arthur Lesk, John Moult and B. Rost.
This is the second course directed at young scientists with some experience and a strong interest in protein structure and structure predicition and who want to learn about the latest developments in this field. Thc aim of the workshop is to preddict as much as possible about the structure of a number of proteins of specific biological interest.
For more information please visit the on-line details via the hyperlink above.
Within the last five years, structural biology in France has undergone a major resurgence, due to a bold and imaginative programme coordinated by the Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), in association with sister organisations (INSERM, Institut Nationale de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale; CEA Sciences du Vivant , Commisariat à l’Énergie Atomique) and several universities. A remarkable feature of the French system is the flexibility to bring together people with similar interests in research centres that cross administrative/ institutional boundaries. The programme IMABIO (Ingénierie des MAcromolecules BIOlogiques), under the guidance of Sylvain Blanquet, has provided major infrastructure to seven such centres of excellence to put French structural biology firmly on the international stage.
Structural biology in France was born at Gif-sur-Yvette (Paris Sud), with the pioneering work of Luzzati and colleagues. As part of the large CNRS campus at Gif (about 1200 scientists) and in association with the Université Paris Sud XI (Orsay), structural biology is now coordinated as a research grouping under the heading of Chimie et Biologie Structurale, which brings together the Laboratoire de Biologie Structurale (LBS, director Joël Janin) and the Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles (ICSN, director Pierre Potier), under the overall direction of Claudine Pascard. Research at LBS (Janin, Ducruix, Knossow) is focussed on protein structure and engineering (e.g. glucose isomerase, nucleoside diphosphate kinase, p21ras GDP exchange factor, collagenase), mechanisms of crystallisation, structural virology (e.g. influenza) and catalytic antibodies. In the sister institute, the ICSN (Potier, Guittet, Das, Pascard), the structural biology programme includes NMR (e.g. toxins), mass spectrometry, and chemical crystallography (protein-ligand interactions). In addition to the CNRS coordinated programme at Gif, protein engineering is also a major focus of research on the neighbouring CEA campus at Saclay, in the Département d’Ingénierie et d’Études des Protéines (Menez, Galat, Dive, Vita) as part of the CEA equivalent to the IMABIO programme, called PROTEINE 2000. Research topics at Saclay include protein folding proteins (protein disulphide isomerase, peptidyl-prolyl-isomerase), receptor-ligand (e.g. acetylcholine receptor) and antigen-antibody interactions, macrophage migration-inhibitory factor, NMR studies of toxins and oncogenic proteins, immunogenicity of peptides and proteins, and inhibitors of zinc metalloproteinases. There is also a common interest in molecular dynamics and modelling both at Saclay and Orsay (Perahia, Smith). Not far away is the Ecole Polytecnique at Palaiseau (Biochemistry Laboratory Laboratoire de Biochimie: Blanquet, Dessen, Hountondji, Plateau, Schmitter) where research is focussed in proteins interacting with RNA (e.g. tRNA synthetases, initiation factors). In Paris itself, the Institut Pasteur leads the way in structural biology and protein engineering (Delepierre, Bentley, Bedouelle)
In Marseille, structural biology has its roots in three prestigious laboratories founded in the 60’s,
notably the Centre de Biochimie et de Biologie Moléculaire , the Laboratoire de Chimie Bacterienne
LCB, and the Centre de Recherche sur les Méchanismes de la Croissance Crystalline. In 1992, research
groups from these centres were united to form the IMABIO pole “Biologie Structurale et
Microbiologie” IFRC1, under the direction of Richard Haser. With a total of 220 scientists/ students/
visitors, the pole is organised in 6 laboratories, with approximately 20 research teams. Enzymatic
Lipolysis (Verger, Noat, de Caro, Wicker-Planquart) is a major interest in Marseille, notably gastric
lipases and the pancreatic lipase/colipase complex., work which forms part of an EU coordinated programme in this area.
In the laboratory for Engineering and Dynamics of Membrane Proteins (C. and A. Lazdunski, Baty, Pagès), research
interests include the ion-channel forming bacterial toxin colicin A and its antagonist, mitochondrial targetting, bacterial
porins and secretion mechanisms. Research topics in the area of Bioenergetics and Protein Engineering (Bruschi, Bélaich,
Haladjian, Lexa, Lemesle- Meunier, Hatchikian, Bertrand, Chapus, Bonicel) include bacterial c type cytochromes, Ni-Fe
hydrogenases of sulphate reducing bacteria, cellulosome proteins, Fe-S centre proteins, yeast cytochrome bc1 complex, and
mammalian procarboxypeptidase. Much of this work is in collaboration with the Laboratory for the Architecture and
Function of Biological Macromolecules (Cambillau, Haser, Payan, Claverie), where protein-carbohydrate interactions
(lectins, glycosyl-transferases, a-amylases) and structure prediction are also major interests. In the Laboratory for Bacterial
Chemistry LCB (Chippaux, Patte, Giordano, Joset, Denizot, Haiech, Monneron, Cornish-Bowden), the regulation of gene
expression (e.g. nitrate reductase) in anaerobic bacteria, oxidative enzymes of extreme acidophiles, secretion in
Gram-negative bacteria, molybdoenzymes, energy metabolism in cyanobacteria, genome sequencing of B. subtilis, calcium
signalling, adenylyl cyclase and the kinetics of multi-enzyme systems are all under investigation. Finally, there is the
Laboratory for Genetic and Structural Informatics EP 91 CNRS/ (Claverie).
Among the centres most well equipped to exploit the potential of structural biology in rational drug
design is the Laboratoire de Pharmacalogie et de Toxicologie Fondamentale (LPTF) in Toulouse.
Recently re-born as the Institut de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale, the IPBS, under the current
direction of Jean Cros, is also a large organisation with over 200 staff/ students/ visitors. Research at
IPBS, including groups from CNRS, INSERM,
the Université Paul-Sabatier (Toulouse III) and the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées, is
organised in four departments. Department I, Antitumoural Pharmacology (Wright, Defais, Ducommun,
Valette, Laurent, Monsarrat, S. Cros, Salles, Maridonneau-Parini), is interested in a number of potential anti-tumour targets
(including g-tubulin, cyclin-dependent kinases, transforming growth factor-b and P-glycoprotein), drug metabolism, DNA
replication and repair, oncogenes and leukocyte differentiation. Department II, Membrane Receptor Pharmacology (J. Cros,
Meunier, Corbani, Zajac, Emorine), is working on opioid receptors and their desensitisation, and the role of neuropeptides
in drug dependence. Glycoconjugates and Biomembranes are the concern of Department III (Puzo, Teissié, Daffé, Milon,
Tocanne), in particular the structure and synthesis of bacterial envelopes, NMR studies of membranes and membrane-bound
neuropeptides, the molecular basis of interactions between mycobacteria and the immune system, the biophysics of lateral
diffusion within cell membranes, membrane insertion and microheterogeneity. Structural Biology and Protein Engineering is
the domain of Department IV (Masson, Samama, Rougé, Promé, Gairin), where current projects include the structure and
engineering of antibiotic resistance proteins (e.g. b-lactamases), retroviral, cytoskeletal and cell-cycle proteins, molecular
recognition in lectin-carbohydrate interactions, bacterial-host plant signalling in nitrogen fixation, and molecular aspects of
antigen presentation by the major histocompatibility complex.
A recent development, in 1994, was the establishment of an IMABIO pole at Illkirch
(Strasbourg), under the direction of Dino Moras, with groups from the Faculty of Pharmacy, the
Institute of Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology IGBMC and the Ecole Supérieure de
Biotechnologie ESBS. The Laboratory of Bioinorganic Chemistry (Schuber, Behr, Goeldner,
Mioskowski) is designing novel gene transfer vectors and membranes probes, as well as
molecular engineering (DNA ligase, synthetic vaccines, catalytic antibodies, substrates for 2D
protein crystallisation, affinity labels for electron microscopy, enzyme inhibitors). The group for
NMR, Carcinogenesis and Mutagenisis (Lefèvre) is studying the conformation of oligonucleotides
most susceptible to carcinogenic mutations, as well as proteins involved in DNA mutation and
repair, and also the structures of a number of biologically active peptide motifs. Research interests in the area of Structural
Biology of Membranes (Pattus, Massotte) include the porins of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, and
eukaryotic G-protein coupled receptors, notably the opiod receptor. Membranes are also the focus of the Electron
Microscopy group (Brisson), in which electron crystallography is used for structure determination of both surface
associated (e.g. cholera toxin, annexin V) and integral (e.g. acetylcholine receptor) membrane proteins. DNA Packaging and
Transcription (Oudet) is also being studied by electron microscopy, using 2D crystals of RNA polymerase and
topoisomerase II. Proteins involved in transcription (initiation factor, retinoic acid receptors) and translation
(aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases) are the main focus of the Crystallography group (Moras), a theme which also features in
studies on the Mechanisms of Transciption and Repair (Egly), where a number of novel transcription factors have been
identified, including BTF2/TFIIH, subunits of which have been implicated in DNA repair and a number of heritable
diseases showing hyper-sensitivity to UV radiation. Post-translational modifications are being characterised in the
Laboratory for Bioinorganic Mass Spectrometry (van Dorsselaer) using FAB, electrospray and laser desorption
technologies.
Grenoble is uniquely situated for structural biology research. Proximity to the European Synchrotron
Radiation Facility (ESRF) and the Institut Laue Langevin (ILL) was the incentive behind the
establishment, in 1992, of the Institut de Biologie Structurale Jean-Pierre Ebel (IBS), a joint venture by
the CNRS and the CEA, under the current direction of Michel van der Rest. With a broad remit to
understand the three-dimensional structures and interactions of proteins and protein complexes, research
at IBS includes: protein hydration and stability in extremophiles, and bacteriorhodopsin dynamics
(Zaccai); molecular enzymology (Arnaud, Gagnon), e.g. complement C1 complex, prolyl-endopeptidase,
catalase; cryo-electron microscopy of microtubules and viruses (Wade); protein crystallography and crystallisation
(Fontecilla-Camps, Dideberg), e.g. Ni-Fe hydrogenase, procarboxypeptidase, anti- acetylcholinesterase snake toxin,
b-lactamine receptor, chloroplast acetohydroxyacid isomeroreductase, glycine decarboxylase H-protein, soybean
cysteine-rich protein; molecular dynamics and modelling (Field), e.g. electron transfer in catalase, allosteric proteins,
protein- DNA interactions; cell biology of microtubules and associated proteins (e.g. STOP, dynamin) in receptor mediated
endocytosis, cell cycle control and apoptosis (Margolis); protein structure determination by multi-dimensional NMR
(Marion), e.g. snake dendrotoxin, ferrocytochromes; protein structure analysis by mass spectrometry (Forest), e.g.
post-translational modifications and conformational changes by hydrogen-deuterium exchange; and protein domains (Vernet,
van der Rest), e.g. antibody engineering, extracellular matrix modules. In addition to the IBS, structural biology in Grenoble
is also thriving at EMBL (Cusack, Leberman, Ruigrok), ESRF (Branden) and ILL (Timmins, Langan, May, Lehmann).
The Rhône-Alpes region is particularly strong in structural biology, where in Lyon the Institut de
Biologie et Chimie des Protéines (IBCP) is in many ways the sister institute of IBS, Grenoble. A
relatively new institute, funded largely by the CNRS, the IBCP, under the direction of Alain Cozzone,
has as its mission the understanding of proteins in their biological context. With a present compliment of
approximately 100 scientists/ students, the IBCP is a multi- disciplinary organisation located the rich
academic and industrial community Lyonnais (Université Claude-Bernard Lyon I, Ecole Normale
Supérieure, Institut Pasteur de Lyon, Colética, Rhône Mérieux, BioMérieux). The two grand themes of
research at IBCP are protein phosphorylation (and other post-translational modifications) and the extracellular matrix.
Studies on protein phosphorylation (Cozzone, Deutscher) in Gram -ve and Gram +ve bacteria include the role of the
transcription factor FruR in kinase/ phosphatase gene expression and metabolic control by the phosphotransferase system.
Related research in mammalian systems (Reboud, di Pietro) includes studies on elongation factor-2, and its regulation by
phosphorylation and ADP-ribosylation, and P-glycoprotein, the ATP-dependent membrane protein of multi-drug resistance.
In the field of extracellular matrix (Garrone, Herbage, Aumailley, Damour, Hulmes), research topics include structure,
function and evolution of invertebrate collagens, cartilage gene expression, collagen-based biomaterials and tissue
engineering, the molecular basis of cell-matrix interactions, and molecular control of matrix assembly. Further strengths
include molecular modelling, NMR, atomic force microscopy and carbohydrate chemistry (Deléage, Penin, Coleman).
Recent developments in Montpellier have exemplified the coordinated approach of the IMABIO
programme. The Centre de Biochimie Structurale (CBS), under the direction of Jean- Marc
Lhoste, brings together teams from CNRS, INSERM and the Universities of Montpellier I and II.
Well established research strengths in NMR have been re-inforced and complemented by the
developments in X-ray crystallography, computing/ molecular modelling and facilities for large
scale protein production and purification. Though still in their early stages, research themes at the
CBS include: NMR Methodology (Delsuc), with the development of new software for data
processing and structure solution; Calcium Proteins (Cavé), including parvalbumins (the first
protein structures to be determined in solution in France), calmodulins, annexins; Peptides
(Aumelas, Heitz), including the conformation of enzyme inhibitors, foldingintermediates and interactions; Crystallography of
Actin-Binding Proteins (Dumas), including caldesmon, tropomyosin and a-actinin; DNA-Protein Interactions and Regulatory
Proteins (van Tilbeurgh), including the bacterial HU protein, yeast transcription factor CYP1, sex determining factor SRY,
the SRE/SRF complex and the SH2-SH2 domain of spleen tyrosine kinase; Protein Hydrodynamics (Jullien), by
fluorescence anistropy and quasi-elastic light scattering; and Molecular Modelling (Grassy, Chiche).
In addition to the above centres, structural biology in France also thriving at Orléans, at the Centre de Biophysique
Moléculaire Campus CNRS, under the direction of Paul Vigny, including the work of Ptak, Lancelot (both NMR) and Genest
(molecular dynamics). Additional centres include Bordeaux Laboratoire de Cristallographie et Physique Cristalline
(Precigoux), Nancy (Branlant, Magdalou) and Rennes (Simmoneaux).
What is the future for structural biology in France ? The IMABIO programme is now closed, but a new programme “Mission
Physique et Chimie du Vivant” has taken its place. Watch this space for developments
David Hulmes, Lyon, France
STRUBE was a re-birth of "PEPTIDE", the newsletter of the Protein & Peptide Science Group of the UK Biochemical and Royal Chemistry Societies. Around 2,000 copies of the first 3 issues were circulated in the UK and Europe.
The objectives of STRUBE remain the same: to provide news on "Structural Biology" (including bioinformatics, protein chemistry and drug discovery) in the European Area particularly; publicise meetings, programmes and grants; feature new facilities and infrastructure developments and publish short features of broad interest to structural biologists. With many printed publications offering scientific reviews and original papers, the newsletter will complement rather than compete with these and (of course) try to offer its readers functionality and active features impossible in a printed communication. Not all of the material linked here is on this Web and so readers will need to use the back function (either full screen or within a frame) to return to STRUBE from a remote document if they wish to continue reading. It is one page long and may be printed or saved. If you do copy or re-use features or graphics taken from here on your own site, please acknowledge this publication by means of a hyperlink to our home page: http://www.biodigm.com/
I appeal for topical items of likely broad interest, news and views and meetings or courses that you wish to bring to the attention of readers in Europe and World-wide. Please send material and ideas for items for consideration for publication in STRUBE. Humour is permitted, so long as it doesn't get out of hand. We would ESPECIALLY like to inform our readers about new bioscience on and off-line resources, sources of funding, meetings etc. E-mail is the preferred mode of sending contributions, of course. To the Editorial office for comments, questions and contributions. Alternatively, prepare or identify something on your host institution's server and send the URL... couldn't be easier.
Please fill out the registration form completely if you want to subscribe (or E-mail the same details if your network doesn't permit forms). To remove your name from the list, use the same procedure.
STRUBE and the nine preceding issues of PEPTIDE were used by many firms supplying the biochemistry and biotechnology research communities to promote their products and services. The editor still has to pay for newsletter production and server costs so that income will be used to cover these charges: Advertise in this on-line newsletter
META-SYNTHESIS
Reaction Chemistry at a click, from the Digital Chemistry Company
REFERENCE EDITION AVAILABLE FREE ON CD-ROM
Meta-Synthesis is a knowledge-based Reaction Chemistry Information System for the Macintosh (other platforms will soon be supported). This rich encyclopaedia of chemical species, reactions and reaction mechanisms is extensively sub-classified and cross-referenced by hyperlinks, and will be of great value to both students and professional chemists.
Complete with 17 tutorial movies, numerous calculators and gadgets, and a module on Modern Lewis Theory, the fully functional Reference Edition of Meta-Synthesis on the free CD-ROM may be unlocked by purchasing a 'soft-key'(29.00 pounds sterling + VAT) to allow full access to the complete database.
For further details on how to obtain your free CD-ROM please visit the Digital Chemistry Company on the WWW at:
http://www.digichem.co.uk/ or e-mail john@venus.co.uk or sales@venus.co.uk
Venus Internet Ltd are exclusive European distributors of Meta-Synthesis.
© BIODIGM 1996 All rights reserved
