Product News: Comprendia and New England Biolabs Connect Epigenetics Scientists with New Social Media Application

Comprendia, leading developer of web 2.0 and social media tools for the life sciences, sponsored by molecular biology reagents provider New England Biolabs, Inc. (NEB), is introducing an online resource that will support epigenetics research. Epigenetics is a quickly growing field with important implications for oncology, neurology, metabolism and disease mechanisms. 'Engaging Epigenetics Experts' (E3) is an online community that will allow epigenetics researchers to more easily connect so they can leverage their collective, interdisciplinary knowledge in a way that has not been possible before.

E3 takes concepts that have popularized social media applications, like Facebook, to another level by utilizing research publications to connect epigenetics scientists. For example, E3 members can find a report about an interesting experiment and quickly engage with the author, saving valuable time and simplifying knowledge transfer. Traditionally, life science discussions have occurred through private email, one-on-one, local interactions, or at yearly conferences; the E3 interface facilitates these communications potentially in real time, and opens them up to the wider community through public forums.

Mary Canady, President of Comprendia said "We interviewed epigenetics researchers and learned that their most important need was more access to expertise with a technique or another discipline. E3 was designed to meet this need, using web 2.0 technologies, which allow them to interact more seamlessly than ever before."

The E3 application already contains 27,000 epigenetics publications from more than 1,000 researchers, as well as a list of experts curated from these publications. Scientists can search the publications by title, abstract, author, keyword or location, and then connect directly with authors in the E3 community. An online forum and blog will also help epigenetics researchers to connect and learn from each other. Groups and events can also be organized from within E3.

Tanya Bhatia, eMarketing Manager at New England Biolabs states "For over 35 years, NEB has been closely involved in supporting molecular biology research, and welcomes E3 as a natural next step in empowering researchers to be more productive. We also look forward to developing collaborations with E3 experts, and accelerating their research with NEB's EpiMarkTM suite of products for epigenetics."

For more information about E3, visit the company article page.