A WORKSTATION FOR COMPUTER ANALYSIS OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL GELS IS PROPOSED.

A WORKSTATION FOR COMPUTER ANALYSIS OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL GELS IS PROPOSED. THE ADVENT OF CHEAP, POWERFUL MICROCOMPUTERS, SUCH AS THE DIGITAL MICROVAX, ENABLES FACILITIES THAT HAVE ONLY BEEN AVAILABLE ON COSTLY MINI AND MAINFRAME COMPUTERS TO BE MIGRATED TO INEXPENSIVE SINGLE-USER WORKSTATIONS. A COMPREHENSIVE 2-D GEL ANALYSIS AND LABORATORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM WILL SHORTLY BE OPERATIONAL AT PROTEIN DATABASES, INC. BASED UPON THE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPED AT COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY. USERS WILL BE ABLE TO ANALYZE GELS AND DEVELOP THEIR OWN PROTEIN DATABASES OR COMPARE THEIR GELS TO PROPRIETARY DATABASES LICENSED FROM PDI. DATA MAY BE EASILY TRANSFERRED BETWEEN WORKSTATIONS, INITIALLY BY MAGNETIC MEDIA AND LATER VIA A COMMUNICATIONS LINK. EXTENSIVE GRAPHICS FACILITIES WILL BE PROVIDED, ENABLING RESEARCHERS TO VIEW DATA FROM GELS IN AN EASILY UNDERSTOOD FORM. THE HUMAN INTERFACE TO THE WORKSTATION WILL BE SIMPLE A FEASIBILITY STUDY WILL BE MADE IN PHASE I TO DETERMINE THE PRACTICALITY OF INTEGRATING A SUBSET OF THIS SYSTEM WITH APPROPRIATE HARDWARE TO PROVIDE A SINGLE-USER, LOW-COST WORKSTATION.