[BiO BB] New cheminformatics self-study learning guide available

[David Wild]

I'm pleased to announce the availability of a new self-study electronic
learning guide for cheminformatics, available at
http://cheminfov.informatics.indiana.edu/djwild/ic/ . Details are below -
please let me know if you have questions.

*Introducing Cheminformatics: an intensive electronic self-learning guide
for new practitioners* is a self-study guide designed to provide a rapid
introduction to the emerging field of cheminformatics, including the
history of the field, representing 2D and 3D chemical structures on
computer, storing and using databases of chemical and related biological
information, handling chemical information on the web and in the scholarly
literature, and giving an overview of some advanced topics such as
clustering and diversity, QSAR and predictive modeling, 3D alignment and
docking, and writing cheminformatics software. It is aimed at life
scientists, computer scientists, scientific librarians and other
practitioners in both industry and academia who need a rapid, flexible
introduction to this field, at low cost relative to traditional courses,
and with maximum flexibility - not requiring attendance at lectures or
submission of assignments by a set date.The areas covered are:

   - The history and current practice of cheminformatics
   - Representing 2D chemical structures on computer
   - Characterizing 2D structures with descriptors and fingerprints
   - Storing and searching 2D structures in databases
   - Handling chemical reactions on computer
   - Representing 3D chemical structures on computer
   - Chemical structures on the web and in the scholarly literature
   - Cheminformatics in the chemistry library
   - Analyzing chemical datasets using clustering and diversity
   - Predicting biological activities of chemical compounds
   - Working with 3D chemical structures
   - Programming toolkits for cheminformatics

On completing the guide, students will be eligible to take an online test
(will be available early March 2012). Upon achieving a satisfactory score,
students will receive a certificate of completion from the author (not
associated with a University).

The guide is written by David Wild., who has over 20 years experience in
the field of cheminformatics, and is currently an Assistant Professor in
the Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing. There he
directs one of the few educational programs dedicated to cheminformatics,
and leads a research group of approximately 15 students focused on
large-scale data mining and aggregation of chemical and biological
information. He is Editor-in-Chief (along with Chris Steinbeck at the EBI)
of the Journal of Cheminformatics, and works as editorial advisor or
reviewer to many journals. He is involved in several cheminformatics
organizations including being a trustee of the Chemical Structure
Association Trust and a member of the American Chemical Society. He has
helped organize many conferences and symposia in this field. He is also the
director of Wild Ideas Consulting, a small scientific computing company
specializing in informatics and cheminformatics.

In addition to the guide, other cheminformatics education opportunities can
be found at http://djwild.info/ed

David
____________________________________________________

Dr. David J. Wild, djwild at indiana.edu, http://djwild.info
Assistant Professor of Informatics & Computing
Director, Cheminformatics & Chemogenomics Research Group
Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing
150 S. Woodlawn Rm 330B, Bloomington, IN 47405
Tel. +1 812 856 1848