The Bioinformatics Resource in the Beckman Center provides computer support for over 1,300 people in 160 different research labs and 37 different departments at Stanford.  Both commercial and public domain software for sequence analysis, molecular modeling, and organic chemistry are available at this facility, along with most of the common molecular biology and chemical databases. The Bioinformatics Resource also provides a variety of Macintosh and Windows software for scientific research and general administrative use.  We obtain network licenses that work under the control of a software license manager.  This allows us to purchase a limited number of copies of expensive software, but distribute the software widely within Stanford, thus providing a substantial savings to the individual researcher. The computer laboratory & classroom, which features Macintosh, PC, and Silicon Graphics workstations, is often used for regular courses; special workshops on using the computer resource and the various software packages are also regularly taught at the Beckman Center.

In FY 2002, the Program in Genetic and Molecular Medicine, using funds provided by the Beckman Foundation, contributed  $XX,000 towards the salary of the Manager of the Bioinformatics Resource,  The Beckman Center also provided the Bioinformatics Resource with an additional $25,000 to match funds from the Clark Center Grant.  This allowed the purchase of specialized software for sequence analysis and molecular modeling, thus providing researchers in the Beckman Center with the sophisticated software that is required to do modern molecular biology.

As more genomes are being sequenced, the ability to rapidly search ever increasing sequence databases is an important requirement for biomedical researchers. Through the efforts of Doug Brutlag (Professor of Biochemistry and Director of the Bioinformatics Resource), the Bioinformatics Resource recently installed a Decypher database search computer from Time Logic, Inc.  This mini-supercomputer is especially designed to search sequence databases thousands of times faster than currently available methods.

For 2003, the Bioinformatics Resource is well prepared to provide biomedical researchers in the Beckman Center with the necessary hardware and software to support their scientific research.