We are pleased to announce Biopython release 1.50, featuring some significant additions since Biopython 1.49 was released late last year. GenomeDiagram by Leighton Pritchard has been integrated into Biopython as the Bio.Graphics.GenomeDiagram module. A new module Bio.Motif has been added, which is intended to replace the existing Bio.AlignAce and Bio.MEME modules. Also have a look at Bio.SwissProt and Bio.ExPASy and their revised parsers.

This is a reminder from the BOSC 2009 Organizing committee that abstracts for BOSC are due on Monday, April 13.

We are pleased to announce a beta release of Biopython 1.50 for public testing. There have been some significant changes since Biopython 1.49 was released late last year. GenomeDiagram by Leighton Pritchard has been integrated into Biopython as the Bio.Graphics.GenomeDiagram module. A new module Bio.Motif has been added, which is intended to replace the existing Bio.AlignAce and Bio.MEME modules.

Just to let you all know, Biopython is now on twitter. And in case you missed the OBF announcement last month, so is the O|B|F News feed (and BioPerl). You are welcome to follow us (all) on twitter.

Those of you doing next generation sequencing may be pleased to know that the next release of Biopython is expected to include support for reading and writing FASTQ and QUAL files within our Bio.SeqIO interface. These formats are used for traditional Sanger capillary sequencing, and Roche 454 sequencing (Roche provide tools to convert from their binary SFF files) with PHRED quality scores.

An Application Note describing Biopython has recently been accepted for publication in the Oxford Journal Bioinformatics . An advance copy of the Open Access article is available online:

Initially for evaluation purposes only, Giovanni and Bartek have setup a mirror of Biopython on GitHub, which is automatically updated from the OBF hosted Biopython CVS repository. See our git migration wiki page for details. If this is favorably received, then moving Biopython from CVS to git seems likely at some point this year. Originally, all the OBF hosted projects used CVS for their source code repositories.

A wiki page for collecting ideas, possible projects, prerequisites, possible solution approaches, mentors, other people or channels to contact for more information or to bounce ideas off of, etc.

All, I am proud to announce that the 1.6 release for BioPerl-run, BioPerl- db, and BioPerl-network are now available by direct download and via CPAN. These are designated as 1.006000, with a requirement for BioPerl 1.6 and higher (1.006000). FIXED: Bio::Tools::Run::Primer3 now accepts primer3 or primer3_core as executable names Bio::Tools::Run::Vista tests now pass if Vista.jar is installed.

Please forward as appropriate and forgive multiple postings.

Google is committed to run the Summer of Code program again this year. It will be for the 5th time. In broad strokes, the program funds what you might call remote summer internships for students to contribute to an open-source software project.