Library—The library is an obvious place to look for informational resources. We are fortunate to have electronic and print access to many journals and databases, allowing you to search for information and access the cited references. Of special interest to science majors are the resources found on the Natural Sciences research page, especially Mary Iber. She can help you devise a search strategy and point you to resources you might not otherwise think of. If you are looking for chemical information, ask her about SciFinder, a search tool for finding stuff about chemical substances..
| PubMed | A useful database from National Library of Medicine for journal articles (and other stuff too). Include the words AND free full text[sb] for available free full text articles |
| PNAS* | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Publishes a wide variety of studies generally viewed to be of high importance |
| JBC* | Journal of Biological Chemistry is more focused on “traditional” biochemistry topics in a variety of research areas |
| ACS* | American Chemical Society journals focus on, um, chemistry. |
| FASEB Jrnl | Federation of American Sciences for Experimental Biology has a human health focus for its published research articles |
| Japan SciTech | Science is a global effort. Here are some high quality journals from Japan—the most useful one for me has been Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry. (Biosci. Biotech. Biochm) |
| JEB | Journal of Experimental Biology An interesting journal of more biological than chemical focus |
| Biochm Jrnl | The Biochemical Journal. Not as prominant as JBC, but it’s free! |
| FEBS Jrnl | Formally European Journal of Biochemistry. Need I say more? |
Scientific Data—These are databases specific for genetics and (bio)chemistry and contain information such as protein structures, gene sequences, or physical properties of chemical compounds (especially SciFinder). Many of these resources are overloaded with information, so plan on spending some time to find exactly what you need. If you can’t find what you need below, you might want to check out MetaDB which is a database of databases in the biological sciences.
| ProteinDB | The RCSB protein database provides a variety of tools and resources for studying the 3D structures of biological macromolecules |
| PubMed | Searchable databases of gene and protein sequences from NCBI (also listed in previous section) |
| PubChem | Contains three linked databases (PubChem Substance, PubChem Compound, and PubChem BioAssay) within the NCBI Entrez information retrieval system. Provides information about structures and biological activites of small organic molecules. PubChem also has a chemical structure similarity search tool. |
| ChemFinder | A great place to get chemical information like CAS numbers, alternative names, and physical properties for commercially available compounds. Requires registration for multiple queries |
| Dr. Duke | A phytochemical and ethnobotanical database. Allows you to search for plants based on the chemical metabolites they produce. Not a fancy interface, but a very functional database nonetheless |
| Expasy | The ExPASy (Expert Protein Analysis System) proteomics server of the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics is dedicated to the analysis of protein sequences and structures as well as 2-D PAGE. Also contains maps of metabolic pathways |
| KEGG | Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes graphically maps biochemical pathways in a variety of organisms. Provides easy access to what genes/proteins are present within an individual organism and how they interact metabolically |
| BioDeg | A compendium of biocatalytic reactions and biodegradation pathways found in microbes. Much of this information is based on functional analysis, not just genome data |
| TIGR Genomes | TIGR's Genome Projects are a collection of curated databases containing DNA and protein sequence, gene expression, cellular role, protein family, and taxonomic data for microbes, plants and humans |
| MicrobialDB | The Comprehensive Microbial Resource houses information on all of the publicly available, complete prokaryotic genomes set up with common data types to make searches and comparisons more meaningful |
Educational Sites—These links access literature and information such as photos, videos, class activities, demonstrations, and labs for educators. They can be helpful for finding simple review articles about class concepts or fun stuff to do with K-12 students. Asterisks(*) identify print subscriptions via the library.
| JChemEd* | A chemical education journal with ideas and topics to include in classroom activities/discussions. Also discusses how, what, and why people learn as well as reviews of books, web sites, and specific chemical concepts |
| BAMBED* | Similar to JChemEd but with a focus on biochemistry and molecular biology |
| NSDL | NSDL is the Nation's online library for education and research in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics |
| TIEE | Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology contains a variety of classroom-tested activites focused on ecological issues |
| PBL Clearing | The Clearinghouse is a collection of peer-reviewed problems and articles for problem-based learning. Teaching notes and supplemental materials accompany each problem, providing insights and strategies that are innovative and classroom-tested |
| SERC | Science Education Resource Center (SERC) works to improve education through projects that support educators. There are a variety of resources for professional development of educators, including classroom activities |