Find out more on our blog:
http://www.ensembl.info/…/find-predicted-crispr-sites-usin…/

The BINC is a nationwide examination aimed at certifying professionals in bioinformatics and tests their theoretical and practical knowledge across three phases of examination. He is entitled to receive a DBT research fellowship leading to a Ph.D. from any premier research institute in India.

For the full list of features, improvements and fixes, see the release notes:https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/tools/gbench/releasenotes

New Features

• BLAST Tool: added support for local custom BLAST databases
• Graphical Sequence View: added log scaling option for graph tracks
• Generic Table View: new tutorial added

Bug Fixes and Improvements

• Project Tree View: Genomic Collections/Assemblies now show accessions, not just names
• Tree View: layout updated to better accommodate nodes of different sizes
• Table Import Dialog (MacOS): fixed issue with table visibility
• Fixed bug where different molecules IDs in GenBank could resolve to the same sequence
• Graphical Sequence View: fixed issue where sequence track was not shown for some sequences
• Graphical Sequence View: fixed protein coloration methods
• Graphical Sequence View: improved rendering of Markers to better indicate boundaries and produce higher quality PDF images
• Create Gene Model tool: fixed scenario when gene model tool failed with local sequences
• Search View: ORF Finder – fixed incorrect protein lengths
• Fixed bug with not opening project file (.gbp) on a click
• Fixed issues in GVF import
• Fixed BLAST Search tool against NCBI databases not working
• Fixed tblastn (protein BLAST) not working in standalone mode
• Fixed GTF export failure

MutaBind guides you through this process, step by step, starting with selecting a protein complex and inputting PDB code or uploading PDB files. You can also retrieve results with a job ID number, view help documents, and review the MutaBind method and references.

More at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/mutabind/index.fcgi/

“The useful features of NgAgo for genome editing include the following.First, it has a low tolerance to guide–target mismatch. A single nucleotide mismatch at each position of the gDNA impaired the cleavage efficiency of NgAgo, and mismatches at three positions completely blocked cleavage in our experiments. Second, 5′ phosphorylated short ssDNAs are rare in mammalian cells, which minimizes the possibility of cellular oligonucleotides misguiding NgAgo.Third, NgAgo follows a ‘one-guide-faithful’ rule, that is, a guide can only be loaded when NgAgo protein is in the process of expression, and, once loaded, NgAgo cannot swap its gDNA with other free ssDNA at 37 °C. All of these features could minimize off-target effects. Finally, it is easy to design and synthesize ssDNAs and to adjust their concentration, which is difficult with the Cas9-sgRNA system, if the sgRNA is expressed from a plasmid and the normal dosage of an ssDNA guide is only ~1/10 of that of a sgRNA expression plasmid.

NgAgo might be a more orderly way and perhaps even simpler way to go about genome editing than CRISPR, but the jury is still out on that until there are more papers and data. The NgAgo edit efficiency at this preliminary stage of technology development seems very strong. See the pics below

Reference: http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nbt.3547.html

ORFfinder is a graphical analysis tool for finding open reading frames (ORFs). We’ve been working on a few updates, and we’d like to find out what you think about them. Read on to find out what you can do with the new ORFfinder.

Smart BLAST (https://ncbiinsights.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2015/07/29/smartblast/)

Select one or a group of ORFs and BLAST several databases at once, and use the newly developed SmartBLAST to verify protein names. Looking for the traditional results from BLAST? They’re there too.

• New ProSplign tool integrated with Genome Workbench (Tutorial, Video)
• New export function for BAM/cSRA coverage graphs (Tutorial)
• New export function for alignments GFF3 format ((Tutorial))
• Tree View: implemented new export mode based on selections (tutorial coming)
• Tree View: added support for distance based circular trees
• Tree View: new rooting mode (Midpoint Root) results in more balanced trees (Tutorial)
• Tree View: added possibility to right-click on an edge between two nodes and "Place Root at Middle of Branch" – to re-root at mid-branch (Tutorial)

Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, New Delhi & Pondicherry University, Puducherry

Starting of online submission of application : April 13, 2016

Last date for submission of application : May 13, 2016

Examination consists of two parts:

Part - I (Paper - I) : June 12, 2016 (10 AM -12 PM)
Part - II (Paper • II & III) : June 26, 2016 (9 AM • 12 PM & 2 PM • 4 PM)

Objective: Pondicherry University, on behalf of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT),
Government of India, will conduct the Bioinformatics National Certification (BING) examination. The objective of this examination is to identify Bioinformatics professionals
for further studies as well as to help potential employers in recruitment of candidates having exceptionally good Bioinformatics skills.

Eligibility : Bachelor degree in Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Agriculture, Veterinary, Medicine, Pharmacy, Engineering and Technology are eligible to appear for the examination. They need not have any formal training, diploma or certificate in Bioinformatics.

Application and syllabus : The online application can be filled from April 13, 2016 to May 13, 2016.

Syllabus for the examination is available online.

It consists of five sections:
Bioinformatics, Biology, Physical and Chemical Sciences, Mathematics & Statistics and Computer Science & Information Technology.

Examination : The examination fee is Rs. 600/- for general candidates, Rs. 400/- for women/OBC candidates and Rs. 200 for SC/ST candidates, and no fee for physically challenged candidates.

The online Part - I (Paper - I) examination is scheduled on June 12,2016 and Part- II (Paper - II and Paper- III) on June 26, 2016. The Paper- I will be of objective type and candidates scoring a minimum of 40% marks in Paper - I will be called to appear in Part II examination.

Part II examination consists of two papers : The Paper - II will be of short answer type questions of three hours duration while the Paper- III will be a practical examination of two hours duration to test analytical ability and programming skill of candidates.

Research Fellowships for all the successful candidates those who are interested and qualified in pursuing Ph.D. in India will be awarded. In addition, cash prizes will be awarded to the top 10 successful candidates.

The details of examination centres, other details and submission of application, please
visit: http://www.pondiuni.edu.in/exams/binc/

If you are using Windows you can easily upgrade to the latest version of R using the installr package. Simply run the following code in Rgui:

install.packages("installr") # install 
setInternet2(TRUE)
installr::updateR() # updating R.

Running “updateR()” will detect if there is a new R version available, and if so it will download+install it (etc.). There is also a step by step tutorial (with screenshots) on how to upgrade R on Windows, using the installr package. If you only see the option to upgrade to an older version of R, then change your mirror or try again in a few hours (it usually take around 24 hours for all CRAN mirrors to get the latest version of R).

I try to keep the installr package updated and useful, so if you have any suggestions or remarks on the package – you are invited to open an issue in the github page.