protocols.io – Life Sciences Protocol Repository – a kickstarter project

The Protocols.io Kickstarter project looks like a very interesting and useful attempt to create an online, easy-to-use and easy to update protocol repository.

They have some great ideas, so I pledged some money for them.

An excerpt from the Kickstarter page:

“A free, up-to-date, crowdsourced protocol repository for the life sciences.

As scientists, we are constantly expanding the frontiers of research and knowledge. Yet, we are also constantly re-discovering knowledge that others have not had the time to publish and improving existing methods without the ability to share the improvements with the world. The mission of ZappyLab is to change this with the protocols.io repository.

Imagine you spend 3 months instead of a week to do a simple DNA transformation in a new species. After much frustration and many cups of coffee later, you discover that you need to do it at room temperature instead of the 42-degree water bath. This is a tiny but critical detail in a common technique. Unfortunately, there is no effective way to let others working with this species know about your discovery.

We started ZappyLab to create a free, central, up-to-date, crowdsourced protocol repository.

We just launched the beta version of protocols.io. This is where you will be able to share and discover changes, corrections, and optimizations of published methods. The trick is to make the sharing easy and crowdsourced. That’s why we have built a protocol checklist app, inside our mobile Bench Tools suite on iOS and Android.”

Go read the whole story and watch the video at their kickstarter page.

3 responses to “protocols.io – Life Sciences Protocol Repository – a kickstarter project

  1. Would not OpenWetWare.org also be suitable for this purpose?

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    • Hmmm.. I’m not familiar with that, and right now, the website isn’t uploading for some reason. also, their last tweet was in 2009: https://twitter.com/openwetware
      Are they even still available?

      Anyway, from what I read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenWetWare
      this is a Wiki based site.

      Protocols.io is supposed to function also as an app for ipad/smartphone.
      They also have other apps developed and in development that will work together with protocols.io

      also from their KS campaign:
      “And do keep in mind that we are just getting started. We are bursting with useful features that we want to include in Bench Tools (text-to-speech timer that announces “PCR timer completed” instead of buzzing, ability to troubleshoot your protocol by connecting to other researchers using it in the same species, and many, many others). Our protocol checklist will soon be on Google Glass and we are actively exploring hands-free devices and controls so that in the future, you will be able to use Bench Tools while pipetting in your gloves”

      Particularly that last sentence sounds promising and worth investing, I think.

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    • ok, now the site is loading.
      It does look nice, but from what I understand protocols.io is intended to be an app with more features.

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