Sorry about the prolonged silence — it’s been a busy holiday season here, as I imagine it has been for you as well.  Three trips in three months and I’m more than ready to stay put for awhile.

In the spirit of getting back into things, here are some sites that might be useful to you.

The first is SciTechNet, a blog dedicated to news about social networking and Web 2.0 resources in the science and technology fields.  It’s a good blog to keep up with, just to see what’s out there.  In illustration, here are some recent highlights:

SciBog is a social networking site for scientists, allowing members to create their own pages, manage discussion groups, create news feeds, and share photos and videos.  There is also a large discussion forum hosted by the site.

Epernicus is a social networking site specifically for professionals in the Health and Life Sciences fields.  Epernicus facilitates connections among members based on institution and research interests.

KnowledgeMesh from Hershey Center for Applied Research is a social networking and mapping utility for the Life Sciences.  It has many of the same features as SciBog, but also marks the location of individuals and research projects on the map, so that you can see at a glance the kind of work that is being done in your community.

The Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management (http://icwdm.org) is pleased to announce that it has finished scanning and posting the first 16 volumes of the Vertebrate Pest Conference Proceedings, spanning 32 years, to its Digital Commons site http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/icwdm/

The Vertebrate Pest Conference is the longest running animal damage control conference in North America. These proceedings contain valuable information on the management of a variety of animal species that have had negative impacts on human health and safety. It is a veritable gold mine of information for researchers and practitioners.

“Introducing BioInformatics Series Tutorials (BITS) brought to you by MIT Engineering and Science Libraries and Harvard’s Countway Library of Medicine.

These video tutorials highlight bioinformatics resources such as NCBI Entrez, BLAST, and the UCSC Genome Browser and focus on specific activities for conducting genomic research. BITS can be viewed at a user’s own pace and own convenience.

The first installment of BITS covers the UCSC Genome Browser, which contains reference sequences and working draft assemblies for a large collection of genomes. Users will learn how to retrieve DNA sequence, display and configure the annotation tracks, identify gene intron-exon boundaries, and use the BLAT tool.

BITS are available here:MIT Engineering and Science Libraries: http://libraries.mit.edu/video
Harvard’s Countway Library of Medicine: http://countway.harvard.edu/video_tutorials

Questions?
MIT Engineering and Science Libraries ask-bioinfo@mit.edu
Harvard’s Countway Library of Medicine countref@hms.harvard.edu”

From David L. Osterbur and Paul A. Bain, Harvard’s Countway Library of Medicine and Courtney D. Crummett, NLM 2^nd Year Associate Fellow, MIT Engineering and Science Libraries

BioMed Central Launches Biology Image Library Online Resource for Biological Images will aid in Research and Education

BioMed Central today announced the launch of Biology Image Library, an online resource that provides access to over 11,000 carefully selected biology-related images. This is the latest service from BioMed Central, part of the Science Navigation Group of companies which was also responsible for the creation of images.MD, a popular medical image resource.

The Library is a new subscription-based service offering access to an annotated selection of high-quality biological images, movies, illustrations and animations. Subscribers may make royalty-free use of images in the collection for research and educational purposes, while commercial usage rights will be available for an additional fee.

“Biology Image Library will be an invaluable resource for biological researchers and educators” said Matthew Cockerill, Publisher, BioMed Central. “Researchers often maintain their own collections of useful images, but until now there has been no easy way for others to find them. By annotating the best images, making them searchable and accessible, and licensing them to allow convenient reuse, Biology Image Library will help academics and other biologists to illustrate their work and to create eye-catching presentations and course material.”

Biology Image Library gives researchers, teachers and students an easy way to find and download high-quality visual material. All content comes from sources that are peer-reviewed by academic editors prior to publication online, so researchers can be sure that the images are scientifically reliable. Subjects covered include developmental biology, histology & pathology, immunology, microbiology & parasitology, molecular & cellular biology, neuroscience and plant biology.

The Biology Image Library is continuously working to expand its collection of images. Potential contributors should email:
info@biologyimagelibrary.com or see
http://www.biologyimagelibrary.com/contribute for more information.

To view Biology Image Library and register for a free trial, visit http://www.biologyimagelibrary.com.

Open access publisher BioMed Central, US, has announced the launch of a new open access journal, Journal of Biological Engineering (JBE). Dr Mark Riley, Associate Professor at the University of Arizona’s Department of Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering, will serve as the journal’s Editor-in-Chief. He will be supported by an expert Editorial Board.

The official publication of the Institute of Biological Engineering, the Journal of Biological Engineering will cover all aspects of biological engineering. The journal seeks to provide a forum for topics that address the basic questions that unify all applications of biological engineering.

Articles in JBE are listed in PubMed and archived at PubMed Central. JBE manuscripts will integrate engineering with life sciences to generate new quantitative methods, models, and information. The journal invites manuscript submissions that address theoretical and applied approaches to design, optimise, and use biological systems ranging in scale from molecules, cells, organisms, to ecosystems.