C-ME: a 3D community-based, real-time collaboration tool for scientific research and training.
The need for effective collaboration tools is growing as multidisciplinary proteome-wide projects and distributed research teams become more common. The resulting data is often quite disparate, stored in separate locations, and not contextually related. Collaborative Molecular Modeling Environment (C-ME) is an interactive community-based collaboration system that allows researchers to organize information, visualize data on a two-dimensional (2-D) or three-dimensional (3-D) basis, and share and manage that information with collaborators in real time. C-ME stores the information in industry-standard databases that are immediately accessible by appropriate permission within the computer network directory service or anonymously across the internet through the C-ME application or through a web browser. The system addresses two important aspects of collaboration: context and information management. C-ME allows a researcher to use a 3-D atomic structure model or a 2-D image as a contextual basis on which to attach and share annotations to specific atoms or molecules or to specific regions of a 2-D image. These annotations provide additional information about the atomic structure or image data that can then be evaluated, amended or added to by other project members.
Kolatkar
Anand
A
Department of Cell Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, USA.
Kennedy
Kevin
K
Halabuk
Dan
D
Kunken
Josh
J
Marrinucci
Dena
D
Bethel
Kelly
K
Guzman
Rodney
R
Huckaby
Tim
T
Kuhn
Peter
P
D003195:Computer Communication Networks; D003196:Computer Graphics; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D016208:Databases, Factual; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D020407:Internet; D008958:Models, Molecular; D014584:User-Computer Interface