The PPS course is about to start! Please read this mail VERY CAREFULLY!
You are about to become part of one of the most ambitious projects on the
Internet, which depends totally on its members acting in a committed and
collaborative manner. I know it will be a great success, because of the
contributions that many of you have already made. As you will have
realised, the administration of the course is extremely challenging and
we need your help in making the course profitable and trouble-free.
TIMETABLE
The course will 'start' on Monday 30th Jan, and last 'about 15
weeks'. We can't be more accurate than this until we see how it goes,
and particularly what level you wish to attain. The ROUGH schedule
will be :
Weeks 1-2:
Getting familiar with the course material, technology and each other.
This is outlined in detail below.
Week 3 onward. Groups work on preparing material and posting it to the
course. This is a continuous activity in some cases.
Weeks 3-10 (approx):
Course backbone. Aproximately one topic per week in serial order
Weeks 11-15 (approx):
Free-ranging exploration and discussion of protein families (or
'revision' of earlier material). You can do as much or as little as you
like here
Weeks 8+ (very approx):
Voluntary creation of extended projects (some of which may tackle
new ideas).
During this period the tempo of the course will be modulated by Alan and
me through the listprocs. For example, we might say 'we think that we
need to spend more time on, say, geometry and we'll take an extra week.
groups 1, 5, 7 have agreed to prepare some additonal reading lists and
diagrams'. Or 'we'll take a break from the backbone and discuss the
ideas about prions/F1-atpase/protein_folding/etc that has just been
published in Nature/Science/JMB/Structure ...'
ORIENTATION (WEEKS 1-2)
This is for finding your feet and making some friends. Every
member should take one or more proteins they are interested in (if you
don't know any proteins yet, use P450 or INSULIN or HEMOGLOBIN or
CHYMOTRYPSIN). MAKE SURE YOU CAN:
- Search for it in SwissProt at EXPASY
- From there, find:
a MEDLINE abstract
follow a MeSH term
its nucleic acid sequence
its enzyme classification EC number (for enzymes!)
any genetic diseases (mainly for human proteins)
its PROSITE entry
where it might run on a 2-D page gel
- find a picture in SWISS-3D (if one exists)
- retrieve the full entry in Brookhaven PDB
- run RasMol on your local machine
- load a local PDB file into RasMol and rotate it
Do NOT worry if you do not yet understand what you have retrieved! That is
what the course is intended for. If major problems arise we shall take
time to sort them out.
Also:
- login to BioMOO and practise talking to someone, then register
- make contact with the other people in your group.
(We'll mail you about what group you are in shortly).
- visit some other Web resources.
- get completely familiar with the way the listproc works.
COMMUNICATION
Different problems require different means of communicating.
IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT YOU USE THE RIGHT ONE FOR THE PURPOSE. Alan and I
are here to help, but PRIMARILY with adminstrative problems, catastrophic
failures, general guidance, etc. We also will have a major role in
facilitating you getting YOUR ideas working. Therefore try to limit
personal questions to ones that nobody else can answer, or if problems
become very urgent.
Examples:
"Where do I get RasMol from" read the course info
"RasMol doesn't work on a XYZZY300" mail to vsns-pps-technical
"Why can't I find any coordinates for 1XYZ.PDB?"
mail to vsns-pps-general OR
vsns-pps-backbone
"Who else is interested in prions?" post notice in BioMOO (pps) AND
vsns-pps-families
"How is our group going to tackle its assignment"
mail your group OR meet in bioMOO
"I can't follow this link on <page>" vsns-pps-backbone OR mail the
author
"What does PLUGH mean?" vsns-pps-glossary
"What mutations are allowed in proteins?" vsns-pps-general
"I think the course is going too fast" vsns-pps-general (yes, I know
public, but you won't be
the only one OR
talk to a consultant in the MOO
THE COURSE NEEDS AN FAQ. ANY VOLUNTEERS?
BIOMOO
please register - no formality - and use a name like
<firstname><initial> or something else friendly but identifiable. Please
practice writing to the pps board (NOT the whiteboard), talking, asking
regulars for help, etc. Use the graphics interface if you are adventurous,
(it can help).
If you want to meet people, post a message to the pps board (NOT
the whiteboard) saying you are going to be in the MOO at 1230 GMT or
whenever and hope others read it and show up.
GROUPS
We shall allocate groups of 20 people in an arbitrary manner. A
few of you have offered to help coordinate these - THANKS - otherwise we
shall pick people ourselves. We shan't try to group you any special way.
MISCELLANEOUS
Please come up with suggestions and also volunteer to make them
work! Alan and I really can only deal with the most pressing problems.
We really want to see some friendships made, if nothing else!
Peter Murray-Rust, for vsns-pps
24/jan/1995