The RCSB PDB attended a variety of meetings this past quarter to demonstrate the use of RCSB tools (such as pdb_extract for structure deposition) and the reengineered RCSB PDB site and database (which is still undergoing beta testing at pdbbeta.rcsb.org).

Special events at these meetings were also organized by the RCSB:

* Together with CCP4, a session aimed at depositors entitled "A Protein Crystallographic Toolbox: CCP4 Software Suite and RCSB PDB Deposition Tools" was held at the American Crystallographic Association's Annual Meeting (ACA; July 17-22; Chicago, IL). Presentations including "An Introduction to the CCP4 Software Suite", "pdb_extract and CCP4: Making Deposition Easier", and "Validation and Deposition at the RCSB Protein Data Bank" can be downloaded from www.ccp4.ac.uk/courses/ACA2004/ACAworkshop04.html. Also at the ACA meeting, RCSB PDB, CCP4, and CCDC formed a "Data Alley" with these groups next to each other in the exhibition hall.

* On September 10, the "Database Challenges in Biology" symposium at CARB brought together experts in biological data management to describe how data are organized in ways to enable scientists to derive new knowledge about structure and function. Special thanks goes to the speakers at this event -- Stephen Bryant (Conserved Domain Database: A Protein Family Database), Wah Chiu (Database for Cryo-Electron Microscopy), Mark Ellisman (Multi-scale Imaging and Databasing of the Nervous System with Advanced Cyberinfrastructure), John Johnson (VIrus Particle ExploreR (VIPER): a Database of Standardized Atom Coordinates for Icosahedral Viruses and Derived Descriptions of Subunit Interactions), John Markley (Data Management in the Laboratory: User Facilities and Research on Small and Large Scales), Cathy Wu (PIR Integrated Bioinformatics for Functional Genomics and Proteomics), and Helen M. Berman (The RCSB Protein Data Bank: An Integrated Resource for Structural Biology).

This newsletter looks at other presentations from this quarter, including the 3D SIG and ISMB/ECCB meeting and a report on the workshop for high school students and teacher "X-rays, Molecules, and You".

Some members from RCSB and CCP4 at "A Protein Crystallographic Toolbox: CCP4 software Suite and RCSB PDB Deposition Tools"