The organizers of the EMBO Workshop on Visualizing Biological Data (a conference I’m very sad to miss as it is occurring this week!) have been working with a group of scientists to prepare a series of reviews on visualizing biological data. These reviews have been published in a supplementary issue of Nature Methods (Volume 7 No 3 ppS1-S68). In addition to five reviews covering visualization of data from systems biology, genomics, 3D macromolecular structures, alignments and phylogenies, and image-data. The supplement also contains a commentary on future visualization.

I’m especially interested in functional network mapping, though at first pass there appears to be little new in that area. Perhaps it is left as an exercise for the reader.

(See also: EMBO Workshop on Visualizing Biological Data (VizBi))

(See also: Nature Methods: March 2010, Volume 7 No 3 ppS1-S68)
(See also: Supplement on visualizing biological data)
(See also: Visualizing biological data—now and in the future)
(See also: Visualizing genomes: techniques and challenges)
(See also: Visualization of multiple alignments, phylogenies and gene family evolution)
(See also: Visualization of image data from cells to organisms)
(See also: Visualization of macromolecular structures)
(See also: Visualization of omics data for systems biology)

IBM is building a nanoscale DNA sequencer that works by moving DNA through a ‘nanopore’ one nucleotide at a time. The concept appears functional in silico. The challenge is to regulate the speed the nucleotides pass through the tube. Fast enough to reach throughput objectives. Slow enough to discretely identify each A,G,C, or T.

If successful, the ‘DNA Transistor’ could improve throughput and reduce cost of genome-scale analysis to a cost of $100 to $1,000. In comparison, the Human Genome Project (HGP) cost $3 billion.

(See also: IBM: IBM Research Aims to Build Nanoscale DNA Sequencer to Help Drive Down Cost of Personalized Genetic Analysis)
(See also: BBC: DNA sequencing in a holey new way)