BitTorrent for Scientific Data

April 15, 2010

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A recent PLoS ONE paper by Morgan G. I. Langille and Jonathan Eisen describes a file sharing solution for researchers that claims to allow for rapid and reliable file transfer. Built upon the P2P file sharing technology from BitTorrent (the bane of anyone attempting to make a living from intellectual property), BioTorrents is a website for open access file sharing of large scientific data sets, that also off keyword searches, category browsing, RSS feeds, and a discussion forum. While many P2P websites are shut down due to copyright infringement, BioTorrents aims to be a legal BitTorrent tracker that will host both scientific data and software.

On his blog, Eisen admits that while he is not sure if BioTorrents will be used extensively, the real point is that it "represents something we need more and more of in the "Open Science" movement. We need experimentation with all sorts of methods for improving sharing. The sharing of large electronic files, such as data sets of some kind (e.g., sequences, pictures, mass spec results, etc) are rapidly becoming a major complication in scientific research...Biotorrents could help in this in that sharing files via BitTorrent is very simple and easy."

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Data presented in this webinar illustrates the value of live cell analysis at the single-cell level to identify differences in expression levels across populations of cells. The cells remain intact for downstream analysis. Our experts also discuss the use of SmartFlare RNA detection probes for the direct quantification of circulating miRNAs with rapid processing of blood plasma/serum, which is done without the use of enzymes. Using circulating miRNAs with established roles in cancer and quality control, we can accurately detect these miRNAs in plasma using a microplate fluorometer within an hour after plasma preparation.

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Currently, Johnson's work focuses on developing tools. During the early days of genome-wide association studies, he noticed that it was difficult for researchers to compare results generated across various array platforms. In conjunction with scientists at the Broad Institute, he developed a tool called SNAP to do just that. "[It] was pretty successful in terms of allowing people to rapidly query for proxy markers, but also just to do basic annotation of SNPs, like chromosome position, gene, and also to do plotting for regional genetic association plots," he says.
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Mosaic genome structure of the barley powdery mildew pathogen and conservation of transcriptional programs in divergent hosts
Hacquard, Kracher, et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

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GenomeWebinar: Advances in Single-Cell Genomics: Live Cell RNA and Circulating miRNA Detection

Sponsor: EMD Millipore

GenomeWeb and EMD Millipore invite you to view an archived webinar discussing new approaches to detect RNA at the single-cell level as well as new probes for the direct quantification of circulating miRNAs. In this free online seminar, recorded April 25, 2013, our expert panel shares protocols for improved RNA and miRNA detection.

On-demand recording available here.

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