EMBER is an online practical designed to provide a brief, hands-on introduction to a range of bioinformatics databases and tools on the Web. It comprises basic and slightly more advanced 'chapters', and a number of case studies. Chapters include reflective questions, to stimulate critical thinking about results, and end-of-chapter quizzes. A glossary of terms and further reading is also provided.
The basic chapters introduce students to practical protein sequence analysis, looking at protein sequence and protein family database searching, sequence alignment and 3D structure classification. For new users, the system requires creation of an account - in the registration form, select "independent user". Once an account has been created, log in to continue (make sure you have cookies enabled in your browser before proceeding).