Laboratory support

openSputnik has a rather interesting pedigree. Before Sputnik was born there was a GABI online resource called miniPEDANT (it may still exist somewhere). The idea was a multi-user, flexible, online resource for up-to-date and contemporary bioinformatics methods without the need to know what is really hot.

Has the appeal of such a resource diminished? I think that the ability for someone slightly geeky (Hey you're reading a SourceForge page - need I say more?) to implement such a resource within the context of an experimental molecular biology laboratory is a great idea. I'll be packaging loads of bioinformatics RPMs and these can form the basis of a "build it yourself in-laboratory sequence management and annotation system". Anyone who has been through the openSputnik CVS will see that the first version of openSputnik natively supported the database::group::user::project format - this is native and is surely of use to someone?

A list of laboratories that use the openSputnik in-laboratory system will be added here is due course.

Much of openSputnik is hosted at SourceForge

Stephen Rudd works at the Centre for Biotechnology in Turku, Finland