On June 22, 2010, Ebling’s Basic Sciences Team coordinated a hands-on webinar for graduate students and researchers at Ebling Library, Marshfield Clinic’s George E. Magnin Medical Library, and at the UW-Milwaukee Libraries. The presenter was Peter S. Cooper, Ph.D., from Public Services at the National Center for Biotechnology Information.
The program was “Update on BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool)”. Featured demonstrations were Protein BLAST, Nucleotide and Genomic BLAST, Primer BLAST, Align two or more Sequences, Global Alignment, and Multiple Alignment.
Participants ran live queries on databases such as Reference proteins, and RefSeq RNA using genome sequences from human, mouse, marmoset, chimp, and macaque. Programs used to run the queries included blastp, megablast, blastn, and COBALT. Attendees learned features of the new interface, how to employ splice variant, organism, and other limits, as well as specifying algorithm parameters.
For copies of handouts or further information, contact: BasicSciencesTeam at library.wisc.edu
Submitted by Ann Combs and Sandy Phelps