Continued Development and Maintenance of GLYCAM-Web

描述（由申请人提供）：碳水化合物装饰蛋白质和细胞表面，作为疾病和免疫过程的识别实体，与细胞老化有关，并用作生物信号载体。它们在许多方面都很有用的一个原因是它们可以采用各种各样的形状。部分原因是它们对生物系统的重要性，部分原因是它们的结构复杂性，科学家，尤其是那些研究它们生物学作用的科学家，能够轻松生成它们及其与蛋白质的复合物的准确且有用的3D模型至关重要。然而，由于碳水化合物的结构复杂性，这些模型的生成是非常困难的。即使是熟悉生物系统计算机建模的研究人员也会发现这项任务令人生畏。然而，仅仅为计算专家提供准确的建模是不够的。为了克服广泛的研究人员采用这种方法的障碍，软件必须直观，并提供适当使用的指导。GLYCAM-Web在线工具套件（www.glycam.org）多年来一直在朝着这一目标迈进。六年前，它开始作为伍兹碳水化合物建模研究小组的内部工具。此后不久，它作为一个免费的在线实用程序被免费发布。网站统计数据已经收集了大约5年，通常平均每月400-500次访问。基于支持请求，征求用户信件和学术期刊中对该网站的引用，它主要由从事生物研究的人员使用。该网站最初的设计并没有考虑到这种扩展，也没有为如此广泛的研究人员提供服务。该项目的目的是更新和改造的GLYCAM-Web套件的建模工具，成为一个稳定的，强大的，信息丰富和直观的实用程序，能够满足当前和未来的糖生物学研究的需求。为实现这些目标，将对网站的软件进行重组，使其由独立的、经过良好测试的、易于维护和修改的模块组成。其数据结构将有助于增加新的功能。为了使外部研究人员能够在本地使用该软件，并根据需要对其进行修改，该网站所基于的命令行界面将向公众发布。将鼓励用户社区提交和更正。为了使更多的研究人员，特别是非计算机科学家的研究人员能够使用该网站，将增加或加强一些功能，并根据用户的要求大大扩充网站文档。在需要添加或增强的功能中，包括更智能的错误检查、简化复杂结构的构建、增加支持的文件格式数量以及与外部网站的接口。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Carbohydrates decorate proteins and cell surfaces serving as recognition entities for disease and immune processes, are implicated in cell aging and are used as biological signal carriers. One reason they are useful in so many ways is that they can adopt a staggering variety of shapes. Partly because of their importance to biological systems, and partly because of their structural complexity, it is critical that scientists, especially those studying their biological roles, be able easily to generate accurate and useful 3D models of them and their complexes with proteins. However, because of the structural complexity of carbohydrates, generation of these models is very difficult. Even researchers who are comfortable with computer modeling of biological systems can find the task daunting. It is not sufficient, however, only to facilitate accurate modeling for computational specialists. In order to overcome the barrier to adoption of such methods by a broad base of researchers, it is important that the software be intuitive and provides guidance in appropriate use. The GLYCAM-Web suite of online tools (www.glycam.org) has been making steps toward this goal for a number of years. Six years ago, it began as an in-house tool for the Woods carbohydrate modeling research group. Shortly thereafter it was released publically as an online utility free of charge. Site statistics have been gathered for approximately 5 years, and typically averages 400-500 visits each month. Based on support requests, solicited user letters, and references to the site found in academic journals, it is primarily used by persons engaged in biological research. The site was not initially designed with the anticipation of such expansion, nor was it initially intended for such a wide base of researchers. The purpose of this project is to update and transform the GLYCAM-Web suite of modeling tools into a stable, robust, informative and intuitive utility that is capable of meeting the current and future needs of glycobiology research. To achieve these goals, the site's software will be restructured so that it is built of self-contained, well-tested modules that are easy to maintain and modify. Its data structure will facilitate the addition of new functionality. To enable external researchers to use the software locally and modify it to meet their needs, the command-line interface on which the site is built will be released to the public. Submissions and corrections from the user community will be encouraged. To make the site usable by a wider variety of researchers, notably that are not primarily computer scientists, several features will be added or enhanced and site documentation will be greatly expanded based on user requests. Among the features to be added or enhanced are smarter error- checking, simplified builds of complex structures, an increased number of supported file formats, and interfaces with external web sites.