Drexel eCrysals Repository chemistry

Richard Stephenson from Southampton University has kindly added Drexel to their eCrystals X-Ray crystal structure repository, now located at: http://ecrystals.chemistry.drexel.edu


Since we are operating under Open Notebook Science conditions, all of our structures will be made immediately available. However, the system is designed to allow contributors to select an embargo date if desired. Anyone from the Drexel community is welcome to participate.

For example, the record for one of our anti-malarial compounds UC-150D can be shared through a simple URL: http://ecrystals.chemistry.drexel.edu/1. The 3D structure of the molecule is displayed in an interactive Jmol JAVA applet with links to all the relevant raw data files. The record can also be cited with a formal author list, making it convenient to acknowledge our crystallography collaborator (Matthias Zeller) and students who contributed.


Note that the crystal structure file for this compound is also available on its ChemSpider entry. In a world of Open Distributed Science, redundancy is information's best friend.

Open Source Drug Discovery gets Funding chemistry

Mat Todd reports on the Synaptic Leap:

We've been successful in securing a large government grant with an open source component. The 3-year project concerns the enantioselective synthesis of PZQ for a low price, with the World Health Organisation as partner. (PDF of the Uni Sydney outcomes is here). The funding comes from the Australian Research Council (the main government funding agency in Australia). We wrote the proposal emphasising the possibilities inherent in the open source approach to doing science, and we're very pleased that this was seen as positive by an official grant-funding agency. The funding will allow us to increase our efforts on using TSL to drive our project forward much faster.

Amino World Exhibit on Second Life Today chemistry

The unveiling of Resident Chemist Andra Renard’s Amino World Exhibit is taking place today on ACS Island!

Andra (Kenyon College biology professor Joan Slonczewski in real-life) and her assistant, Daniel, will be voice-enabled and accepting questions via text. The unveiling will be at 12 Noon PDT (SL time)/ 15:00 EDT on Wednesday, June 11, at http://slurl.com/secondlife/ACS/124/124/21

Read more about it on the ACS blog.