The Helmholtz Network for Bioinformatics: an integrative web portal for bioinformatics resources

• Published in: Bioinformatics Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 268 - 270
• Main Authors: Crass, T., Antes, I., Basekow, R., Bork, P., Buning, C., Christensen, M., Claußen, H., Ebeling, C., Ernst, P., Gailus-Durner, V., Glatting, K.-H., Gohla, R., Gößling, F., Grote, K., Heidtke, K., Herrmann, A., O'Keeffe, S., Kießlich, O., Kolibal, S., Korbel, J. O., Lengauer, T., Liebich, I., van der Linden, M., Luz, H., Meissner, K., von Mering, C., Mevissen, H.-T., Mewes, H.-W., Michael, H., Mokrejs, M., Müller, T., Pospisil, H., Rarey, M., Reich, J. G., Schneider, R., Schomburg, D., Schulze-Kremer, S., Schwarzer, K., Sommer, I., Springstubbe, S., Suhai, S., Thoppae, G., Vingron, M., Warfsmann, J., Werner, T., Wetzler, D., Wingender, E., Zimmer, R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 22-01-2004; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: Algorithms; Biological and medical sciences; Computational Biology - methods; Computational Biology - organization & administration; Database Management Systems; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Germany; Information Storage and Retrieval - methods; Interinstitutional Relations; Internet; Mathematics in biology. Statistical analysis. Models. Metrology. Data processing in biology (general aspects); Sequence Analysis, DNA - methods; Sequence Analysis, Protein - methods; Software; User-Computer Interface; Germany; Data analysis; DNA; Prediction; Network; Resource; Bioinformatics; Cascade; Protein
• ISSN: 1367-4803; 1460-2059; 1367-4811
• DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btg398

The Helmholtz Network for Bioinformatics (HNB) is a joint venture of eleven German bioinformatics research groups that offers convenient access to numerous bioinformatics resources through a single web portal. The ‘Guided Solution Finder’ which is available through the HNB portal helps users to locate the appropriate resources to answer their queries by employing a detailed, tree-like questionnaire. Furthermore, automated complex tool cascades (‘tasks’), involving resources located on different servers, have been implemented, allowing users to perform comprehensive data analyses without the requirement of further manual intervention for data transfer and re-formatting. Currently, automated cascades for the analysis of regulatory DNA segments as well as for the prediction of protein functional properties are provided. Availability: The HNB portal is available at http://www.hnbioinfo.de