An international network of researchers announced today the release of a new web-based resource designed to facilitate the development of medicines to fight infectious diseases afflicting the developing world...the Drug Target Prioritization Database....
"This is the first time that any group has assembled such a comprehensive set of information pertinent to drug target discovery, for such a diverse array of parasitic and bacterial diseases," says Dr. Wesley Van Voorhis from the University of Washington in Seattle, who coordinates the Drug Target Prioritization Network....
The network's goal is to identify and prioritize drug targets against diseases that predominantly affect developing countries. The database is unique in that it allows any researcher -- in both developed and developing countries -- to have access to this kind of information....
The TDRtargets.org web site combines available genomic and bioinformatic data for each priority organism with automatically extracted and manually curated information from the research literature and other databases relevant to each putative drug target. The network has invested substantial effort in annotation to assist scientists in the identification of high-value drug targets. The database also permits comments from experts in the field.
User-defined weightings permit potential drug targets to be ranked according to their desirability, providing prioritized, customized lists....
[T]he network encourages the international community to take advantage of this resource, contribute additional data, and make suggestions for further improvement.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 4/17/2007 08:43:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
