Gene Codes has released Sequencher 4.7. The new version includes an update of the Variance Table, introduced in 4.6, which now enables editing with table cells. The software also offers enhanced GenBank feature handling, fully HTML help, the ability to save projects as templates to speed repetitive analysis, and expanded file export capabilities. Sequencher 4.7 also includes updated capabilities for forensic scientists working with mtDNA samples for victim ID and forensic casework.
The International Haplotype Map Project has released new datasets and added several new features to the HapMap browser. The browser includes a new “region” view that displays 200 kb and serves as an intermediate between the detailed view, and the chromosomal overview. There are also new tracks in the browser to display expected linkage disequalibrium values within windows along the chromosome.
The browser also includes a new plug-in that downloads phased genotypes for the region being browsed. New datasets include CEL files from Affymetrix GeneChip 500K Mapping Arrays on the HapMap samples, and inferred genotypes for 78 CEPH children based on the known genotypes of 60 CEPH individuals.
The European Bioinformatics Institute has released an updated version of the International Protein Index database at ftp://ftp.ebi.ac.uk/pub/databases/IPI/current/. The database, compiled from UniProt, RefSeq, Ensembl, TAIR, and H-InvDB, includes protein data for human, mouse, rat, zebrafish, Arabidopsis, chicken, and cow.
Text analytics software provider Temis has launched Luxid for Life Sciences, an industry-specific version of its text-mining software. Luxid for Life Sciences includes features for analyzing the relations between biological, medical, and chemical entities. It also includes a set of navigation and discovery tools for evaluating the druggability of targets. The software includes three applications: Luxid Annotation Factory for extracting information from text; Luxid Information Mart for federating heterogeneous sources; and Luxid Information Analytics, a web-based portal for mining data in the Information Mart.