Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello,

My son is currently trying to complete this project for his science fair at school, but it seems many of the links in the project guide are outdated.

I've been able to find a work around for most of them, but the primary site he is supposed to use to access the NCBI database has changed and he is being redirected to the new site, which means all of the instructions he received are no longer valid. Is there an easy way for us to review genome projects via animal category (i.e. mammals, reptiles, insects) and how do we view the current genome status (i.e. complete, in progress, none).

Thank you in advance for your kind assistance. I don't want him to become frustrated to the point where he develops a negative attitude toward science.

Sincerely,
Julie

Hey there Julie,

Heck no we wouldn't want that. STEM is amazing if you have a passion for it, and I hope that he will!

http://www.genomesize.com/ is up to date. It might look like it is out of style, but their website is 2016 current.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_s ... al_genomes I usually try to avoid Wiki's, but in this case many of the links I tried were still 'hot'

Hope this helps! Let us know if we can assist with other questions, or if this was not the sort of information you were looking for.

Elizabeth

Hi Julie,

We apologize for the outdated links! The NCBI seems to have really revamped its platform. I will inform sciencebuddies about the new updates. Now, from this point on, I can think of two possible ways to get around this.

WAY 1: Similar to what Elizabeth mentioned, there is another very similar and up-to-date science project that your son could do as an alternative using http://www.genomesize.com. I actually did this new project a few years back when I was first learning about genetics. I found my results pretty mind blowing, I still do .

Project: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ml#summary

WAY 2: I would only do this choice if I were really keen on continuing with the same project. The bioproject organization run by the NCBI seems to have reorganized everything on its platform.

I couldn't seem to find a page offering the same simplistic vibe as before so to get around this I heavily personalized the search into this link: https://gold.jgi.doe.gov/projects?page= ... sm.Domain=.

Instead of organizing projects into simple animal based categories, the projects are categorized by "Organism Domain". So, your son should still be able to tell which types of organisms need more attention in the sequencing world through the "project status" but the information he finds will probably be less recognizable and thus less exciting.

By Clicking the "+" under "Organism Domain" your search becomes customizable. The three organism domains available to search are "Archaeal", "Bacterial", and "Eukaryal".

To view simple pie charts displaying all of this data click this link: https://gold.jgi.doe.gov/distribution. There are multiple tabs in blue on top of the pie charts. Click the "sequencing status" tab to see the information your project is related to.

I really suggest going with WAY 1 because it is simple, really quick, and may help replace any frustration with fascination and excitement. It's a really great project.

Best of luck! If you have any more questions, we're happy to help!