Product Highlight: Access Millions of Clones with Source BioScience’s GenomeCUBE® Search Engine

GenomeCUBE® is an intuitive online search engine from Source BioScience that gives researchers easy access to millions of clones and thousands of antibodies, and the ability to purchase various reagents, all in one place. Originally developed at RZPD, a central service unit within the German Human Genome Project (DHGP), GenomeCUBE® has become the world’s largest genetic clone database.
The tool can be used to search for genomic, cDNA, ORF Shuttle, ORF Expression, Synthetic and RNAi clones, while also enabling the retrieval of gene-based research material, as well as a free text-based screening of all Source BioScience resources in one step.

Comprehensive database
The gene-based search relies on the comprehensive ‘BioInfo core database’, which merges gene- and protein-related information from different public databases (e.g. NCBI, Ensembl, UniProt), as well as Source BioScience’s own stores of clone libraries and individual clone sets, associated antibodies and kits. As a result, various identifiers can be applied as search terms. Users can purchase all products they require directly through GenomeCUBE, eliminating the need to search the internet for various providers.

An updated version of the GenomeCUBE® was launched in September 2014 to include a highly extended search function that allows users to search using free text and alias names for genes and proteins, making searching much easier. Specific search results are achieved through a unique mapping method, based on sequence homologies, while monthly updates ensure up-to-date reference content for each product, including ‘real-time’ annotated information from multiple public databases.

Supporting resources
GenomeCUBE® search results provide researchers with all the information they need to select the most suitable products, with clones categorized according to potential application, and products listed under three different tabs (clones, antibodies, reagents and kits). Comprehensive Data Sheets detailing relevant biological data are provided in most cases, helping researchers to make an informed choice.

Source BioScience also offers batch data dump outs and batch searches on demand, providing customers with up-to-date clone lists compiling all relevant biological data needed for any specific application. The batch searches form the basis for the set-up of complex project flows, combining various resources and services due to the customers´ requirements.

Dr Nick Ash, CEO of Source BioScience, commented: “We have made a significant investment in developing the new infrastructure and search capabilities of GenomeCUBE. The tool now offers users an easier pathway from search to checkout and payment.
“Using GenomeCUBE, researchers can access the information they need and the associated products they may require, and proceed to purchase this in as few as three clicks. We believe the market needs a search engine of this type, to enable researchers to access millions of clones, hundreds of thousands of antibodies, and the ability to purchase the reagents and kits from one source.”