Bioinformatics Group
Promega Corporation Bioinformatics Group
Location: Madison, WI, USA
Name/Title: Monika Wood, M.S., Manager, R&D Bioinformatics (first.lastATpromega.com)
Links: <a href="http://www.promega.com">Promega</a>
Group size: Two. Monika Wood heads the group and supports primarily molecular modeling, protein & small molecule engineering. Ethan Strauss supports primarily sequence analysis, database design, tools development. Separate IT department manages applications upgrades, systems, network.
Environment: We are part of the R&D Department and primarily support ~100 biologists at our WI headquarters and ~20 chemists at our CA site. We also serve as liaison to the IT Department. We have started to develop tools for external customers. We contribute to courses at Promega's non-profit institute <a href="http://www.btci.org/about/overview.html">BCTI</a>, UW-Madison, and Madison Area Technical College.
Tools: Lasergene, Vector NTI, OLIGO, ChemDraw, BLAST & EMBOSS (BioTeam iNquiry portal), GEMS Launcher (gene regulation; Genomatix), InsightII & Discovery Studio (molecular modeling; Accelrys), several graphics apps.
Pertinent hardware info: One dual-Xeon dual-boot Windows/Linux workstation (for molecular modeling). One dual-Opteron 5GB RAM Linux server hosted off-site by BioTeam at Boston Datacenters (for local blast). One shared R&D workstation for general use of scientific & graphics applications not licensed department-wide. Desktops are PCs.
Training: New employee orientation with customized follow-up training. Hands-on group training after release of major software updates. Have dedicated 16 PC training room. Lots of ad-hoc one-on-one training. Needs improvement.
Bioinformatics support model: Research collaboration, Data analysis, Consultancy, Software development, Database development, Training.
Funding model: R&D Department budget.
