On Nov. 8, 1998 BioMedNet - the Internet Community for Biological and Medical Researchers - launched a new section called BioMedNews, containing a daily online conference newspaper covering the Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Los Angeles.

This groundbreaking publication posted reports of the conference sessions live on the Internet as they happened, utilising the full potential of the web as a publishing medium. As well as theconference reports, BioMednews featured profiles of eminent neuroscientists and columns from the editors of some of the world's leading neuroscience journals.

BioMednews is still available through BioMedNet - just visit http://biomednews.com to view all 34 conference reports written by our team of award-winning journalists, together with all the profiles and columns. There is now also a 'Letters' section to give you the chance to debate and discuss the important issues raised at this major international meeting.

The high-quality scientific reports cover a wide selection of neuroscience topics, and highlights include:

* Of Prusiner and Prions - Emily Green reports on the Annual Meeting's Special Lecture given by Nobel Prize Winner Professor Stanley B Prusiner.

* Spiny Relationships - A report on the symposium that addressed the intriguing questions posed by dendritic spines.

*Spinal Cord Patients Walk - Laura Spinney reports on recent findings that suggest the spinal cord may have some capacity to learn independently from the brain.

* Cortical Reorganization Compensation Packages - Looks at recent findings that indicate that redundant parts of the brain in the blind and deaf are given over to the processing of other functioning senses.

Whether you attended this meeting or not, BioMednews' coverage provides the neuroscience community with a unique and invaluable online resource.

If you have any questions or comments concerning BioMedNet, feel free to contact Clare Thompson, Editor of BioMedNet at info@biomednet.com

The Genomics & Bioinformatics Facility, housed in 317 Morrill Science Center III-South Wing, performs DNA sequencing and real-time PCR for researchers on the UMass campus and in the surrounding area. The facility is managed by Franc-Eric A. Wiedmer. The main instruments are a Beckman CEQ 8000 and a Stratagene MX3000p for sequencing and real-time PCR respectively. These instruments also are capable of performing genotyping assays. The cost of sequencing is $10/sample for a turnaround time of 48 hours for most sample sets. All sample submission forms can be downloaded from the website or picked up in Room 317. For additional questions feel free to contact the facility by e-mail: wiedmer@bio.umass.edu or call 413-545-4627.

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