How About a Forum for Bioinformatics?

This is a field that is beginning to explode and get the attention of many members of both the CS and Life Sciences communities.

While there are other organizations and groups dedicated to this field alone, I believe anywhere the topics surrounding bioinformatics can be discussed, especially with life scientists, then there is the potential for an improvement in understanding the problems life scientists face and the solutions they need.

I have more of a computer science background with strong interest through self study in the life sciences, so my direct interaction with life scientists greatly enhances my understanding of the technical challenges they face in the laboratory.

What's your opinion?

I see now that there is a Bioinformatics forum under the higher level Proteomics forum, however, Bioinformatics is a field which is much broader than just applicability in proteomics. I believe this forum should have a higher level forum of its own, with potential subforums underneath for certain life science subdivisions, biochem, genomics, proteomics, etc.

It appears that we have member support for a forum devoted solely to Bioinformatics (currently in with Proteomics). We are open to suggestions of forums within Bioinformatics.

Bioinformatics
-Algorithms and Gene Programming
-Computational Methods
-Metabolic Pathways
-Nanotechnology
-Systems and Applications
-Equipment
-Assay Development and protocols
-Post your work/Ideas
-Meeting Announcements

The Bioinformatics forum under "proteomics" is a good start and its certainly quite busy.

I think we could have Bioinformatics forums under Biochemistry, Genomics, Cell Biology, Cell Signalling and other top level Categories.

This would be better than a top level Bioinformatics Catagory as it recognises the fact bioinformatics is a tool to be used in each of these areas. We could then create a page - which general Bioinformatitions might find useful containing all the Bioinformatics posts across the disciplines.

If we're going for a Top level Bioinformatics Category - suggestions for subforums (too many perhaps)

Bioinformatics
-Data Mining (particularly of literature databases)
-Software
-BioJava
-BioPerl
-Distributed Computing
-Microarrays
-Metabolomics
-Algorithms
-Alignments
-Laboratory Data Management
-Structural Bioinformatics
-Jobs
-Courses
-Post your work/Ideas
-Meeting Announcements

It would be good to find a better way to deal with all "Events": conferences, courses etc.

With Events, Instrumentation and Jobs It would be good to have both a comprehensive listing somewhere, as well as highlighting the relavant ones within the specialised category/forum.

Also, BioPerl and BioJava could be under Software or just a different heading of "Software Development Tools." The Distributed Computing could also fall under this heading.

Could also include 'Development Tools'

also biopython

There are plenty BioXXX...check out bioinformatics.org

We are going to have a Bioinformatics category very soon. Please prepare your questions.