Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ),
Department of Molecular
Biophysics,
Im Neuenheimer Feld 280,
D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Email: genome@dkfz.de
http://genome.dkfz-heidelberg.de
The Biocomputing Service Group at the DKFZ was established in 1986. Its services are partly offered as a bioinformatics infrastructure for the German Human Genome Project (DHGP), and partly as the German EMBnet (European Molecular Biology Network) node. The EMBnet consists of a group of recognized bioinformatics centers (nodes) that collaborate to support and advance research in molecular biology and biotechnology.
Research has shifted from sequencing to interpretation of the obtained sequence data. A thorough knowledge of software programs to analyse newly obtained sequences, however, is often missing. We aim at an extensive support for the scientific user to ensure the successful employment of the bioinformatics resources.
Our regularly updated services include:
HUSAR/GCG
Program package for sequence analysis with more than 250
applications. More than 100 regularly updated databases are
provided. UNIX and WWW interface.
STADEN
Program package for sequencing projects (Contig assembly, Trace
editor).
PHYLIP
Program package for phylogenetic analysis.
SRS
Sequence Retrieval System; Access to more than 140 databases,
including daily updates from EMBL, Genbank, Swissprot, PIR and
many more specialized databases, such as the HIV-, TRANSFAC- and
PROSITE-databases.
We have established a comprehensive system of computational services and online access to databases. Our user support includes a hotline, a mailinglist and distribution of tutorial materials. Introductory courses and advanced workshops on specialized topics, each lasting two days, are held every month at the DKFZ or on location. Our offer to implement individually configured software solutions has already led to the development of various new applications.
Currently we are developing a task configuration system. This system provides a very flexible way to configure program and data flow among different biocomputational methods. Newly developed sequence analysis tasks are:
PATH
A biocomputing task for the estimation and realization of
phylogenies. Each of the three main phylogenetic methods:
distance, parsimony and maximum likelihood are executed. Created
phylogenetic trees are compared for consistency of the subgroups.
DNASweep
A biocomputing task for the identification of eukaryotic DNA
sequences. Several homology searches are performed and possible
genes or promoter elements are located in the sequence.