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The Microbe Story at ASM microbe 2016-Need for Microbiome Research

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The 2016 American Society for Microbiology-Microbe (ASM Microbe 2016) was an August meeting held in the magnificent city of Boston at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (BCEC) and its high-traffic neighborhood from June 16-20. It is the first time that the ASM general meeting and the ICAAC (Interscience Conference On Antimicrobial Agents And Chemotherapy) merged to make a single giant convention. This year the meeting saw huge participation from academia, the pharmaceutical industry, and several biotechs. There were big brands as well as smaller start-ups in the microbial horizon clamoring for attention amongst the 7000-odd attendees. Indeed, in the words of David C. Hooper, MD; Massachusetts General Hospital and Chair, ASM Meetings Board-“It’s really the only meeting of its kind. It covers the scope of microbiology and microbial sciences from A to Z, from basic to clinical applications”. The event kick-started with a Conversation with Bill Gates: Bringing the Frontiers of Science to the Front Lines of Development that rightfully set the tone for the rest of the conference. The tech mogul championed the cause for prevention and cure for several infectious diseases across the globe, especially in developing countries. He highlighted the need for more microbe-oriented research to eradicate the menace of infectious diseases.

The main event was divided into several parallels running scientific tracks and workshops conducted by experts in the field. From the pharma standpoint, sessions that focused on host-microbe ecology, the translational aspect of microbial research and therapeutics and prevention were my top choices. Clostridium difficile infection, HIV cure, dysbiosis and rebiosis, fecal matter transplant, prebiotics and probiotics, microbiome interaction, inflammation were some of the buzzwords from these sessions. It is perhaps not out of context to mention that my work on the discovery of microbial metabolite mimics was very well received and had the floor cheering. GSK’s unique approach towards ‘Microbiome-to- Targets’ was lauded at all levels. Several stalwarts in the field of microbiome research like Robert Knight (University of California, San Diego), Peter Turnbaugh (University of California, San Francisco), Andrew Goodman (Yale University), Laurie E. Comstock (Harvard University), were also present in the audience. I had an opportunity to a have a talk on my research work which featured in the “Influence of Microbial Products on the Gut Microbiota or Host” symposium.

The wealth of information amassed from the Human Microbiome Project (http://hmpdacc.org/) needs processing, in-depth analysis, development of new Bioinformatics tools and software to meaningfully interpret the microbiome association in human health and their clinical implications. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA regions from the commensal microbes bypassed the challenges of identifying bacteria from cultures (most of the commensals from different body sites are actually still uncultivable in the lab). At ASM, scientists from various disciplines were unequivocal in stressing the need for more microbiome research given the intricate biology of host-microbe interaction. Understanding the molecular mechanism of this “cross-talk” is still in its infancy, emphasizing the need for more pharma investment in this area to develop new therapeutic products. As increasing number of evidence points to the involvement of the commensal microbiota in several autoimmune disorders, metabolic diseases, respiratory diseases, and neurological disorders, it is only logical to study bugs that are our “buddies” as well as the ones that are “baddies”. In conclusion, the microbiome market will only gain traction in near future.

Somdutta Saha, Ph.D.
Early Talent Postdoctoral fellow,
Computational Biology, R&D, GlaxoSmithKline,
1250 South Collegeville Road, Collegeville. Pennsylvania 19426.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are that of the author’s alone and not necessarily endorsed by GlaxoSmithKline(GSK) Plc.

Somdutta Saha is a post-doctoral level Computational Biologist at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) pharmaceuticals working in the area of microbiome. Dr. Som has over 7 years of experience working as computational biology scientist and have worked in early stage drug discovery using novel therapeutics - spanning the entire spectrum of candidate molecule selection, screening and prioritization.

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Bioinformatics News

VS_Analysis: A Python package to perform post-virtual screening analysis

Dr. Muniba Faiza

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VS_Analysis: A Python package to perform post-virtual screening analysis

Virtual screening (VS) is a crucial aspect of bioinformatics. As you may already know, there are various tools available for this purpose, including both paid and freely accessible options such as Autodock Vina. Conducting virtual screening with Autodock Vina requires less effort than analyzing its results. However, the analysis process can be challenging due to the large number of output files generated. To address this, we offer a comprehensive Python package designed to automate the analysis of virtual screening results.

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Proteins shape analyses reveal novel forms and connections.

Dr. Muniba Faiza

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Protein shape analyses reveal novel forms and connections.

A new study has revealed new forms of proteins that have never been seen before along with unexpected connections. Last year, Google DeepMind predicted the structure of all known proteins from organisms using AlphaFold [1].

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What is MANE project?

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What is mane project?

MANE is a collaborative project between NCBI and EMBL-EBI. It stands for Matched Annotation from NCBI and EMBL-EBI [1]. The datasets provided by NCBI and EMBL-EBI on the human genome are not identical across every gene.

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This Month in Bioinformatics- Research Updates of March 2022

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This Month in Bioinformatics- Research Updates of March 2022

Here are the latest research developments in the field of bioinformatics made in the month of March 2022. (more…)

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This month in Bioinformatics- Research Updates of November 2021

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This month in Bioinformatics- Research Updates of November 2021

We summarize the latest research published this month in the field of bioinformatics. (more…)

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This Month in Bioinformatics- Research Updates of October 2021

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Monthly Bioinformatics Research Updates

In this article, we summarize the latest interesting findings made this month in bioinformatics. (more…)

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BLAST+ 2.12.0- A more efficient version of BLAST is available

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BLAST+ 2.12.0- New version

A new more efficient version of BLAST+ 2.12.o is available now [1]. This version provides more efficient multithreaded searches. (more…)

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This Month in Bioinformatics- Research Updates of June 2021

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This Month in Bioinformatics- Research Updates of June 2021

In this article, we summarize the latest interesting findings made this month of June in bioinformatics. (more…)

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This Month in Bioinformatics- Research Updates of May 2021

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This Month in Bioinformatics- Research Updates of May 2021

In this article, we summarize the latest interesting findings made this month in bioinformatics. (more…)

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This Month in Bioinformatics- Research Updates of April 2021

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This Month in Bioinformatics- Research Updates of April 2021

In this article, we summarize the latest interesting findings made this month in bioinformatics. (more…)

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This Month in Bioinformatics- Research Updates of March 2021

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Bioinformatics Monthly Research Updates- March 2021

Here, we summarize the latest interesting findings made this month in bioinformatics. (more…)

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This Month in Bioinformatics- Research Updates of February 2021

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Monthly Research Updates- February 2021

We summarize the research done in bioinformatics in the month of February. (more…)

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This Month in Bioinformatics- Research Updates of January 2021

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This month in Bioinformatics- January 2021

In this article, we summarize the main findings made in bioinformatics this month. (more…)

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This Month in Bioinformatics- Research Updates of December 2020

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This Month in Bioinformatics- Research Updates of December 2020

In this article, we summarize the latest research in bioinformatics published this month. (more…)

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Join Bioinformatics Review Research Group

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We are going to lead a few bioinformatics research projects. For that, we are creating a new research group of Bioinformatics Review. (more…)

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This Month in Bioinformatics- Research Updates of November 2020

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Research updates of bioinformatics- November 2020

In this article, we summarize the latest research in bioinformatics published this month. (more…)

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This Month in Bioinformatics- Research Updates of October 2020

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monthly-october updates bioinformatics

Some of the important findings made this month in bioinformatics are mentioned in this article. (more…)

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This Month in Bioinformatics: Research Updates of September 2020

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Bioinformatics Monthly updates- September 2020

Some of the important findings made this month in bioinformatics are mentioned in this article. (more…)

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This Month in Bioinformatics: Research Updates of August 2020

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Bioinformatics Research Updates- August 2020

Some of the important findings made this month in bioinformatics are mentioned in this article. (more…)

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This month in Bioinformatics: Research Updates of July 2020

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This month in Bioinformatics

Some of the important findings made this month in bioinformatics are mentioned in this article. (more…)

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