Interactive PLoS website for scientific community

I just came across PLoS (Public Library of Science) website http://www.plos.org/index.php
It's an amazing site whose objective is to make the scientific literature available for free to the scientific community. Of course, you will have to pay if your article is accepted in their journals. The following are the core principles of PLoS: (Modified from their website)

1. Open access.
2. Excellence.
   
3. Scientific integrity.
4. Breadth.
5. Cooperation.
   
6. Financial fairness.
7. Community engagement.
8. Internationalism.
   
9. Science as a public resource.
   

They have seven journals that have good citation index. They are
1. PLoS One
2. PLoS Biology
3. PLoS Medicine
4. PLoS Computational Biology
5. PLoS Genetics
6. PLoS Pathogens
7. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases

Their web site is user friendly and have various features such as news, journal information etc. Visit the website and browse through the different subject areas. The users can go to this webpage for more friendly version http://www.plosone.org/static/users.action
If you need more help in using the site follow this link
http://www.plosone.org/static/help.action

HI Everyone : Please introduce yourself

It's very nice to be participating on such a wonderful platform.I thought I should first introduce about my whereabouts.I will keep you posted very shortly about things we are collectively planning.Right now,I am at NCBS(May 2007-present)(National Centre for Biological Sciences) working in Dr.V.Sriram's Lab involved in Mitochondrial Remodelling.We also have Raghu(2006-2008,M.Sc batch) here.

Procurement of study material

As suggested by Pradeep, there is a need to give the outgoing students access to study material. I remember, that when we were passing out, there was Brilliant tutorials material in the department. It may be too outdated today. Regarding the previous year question papers, it is more convenient for our alumni who are studying in these institutions. I request Premananda and Arun to procure the previous year question papers of IISc, JNCASR and NCBS. Based on this, I have following proposals:
1. Procurement of GATE, CSIR material from Brilliant tutorials.
2. Procurement of GRE/ subject GRE material.
3. Procurement of previous year question papers of IISc, NCBS and JNCASR.
4. If possible compilation of questions from GATE and CSIR by the current students after writing the exams ( from their memory)
5. A data base of excellent review papers from top journals for the benefit of the members.

I shall discuss with the alumni in Europe (Kanth, Saiki, Bharath, Shibu, Bala Sai, Pradeep, Tarini, let me know if I have missed anyone) about the option of buying the GRE, CSIR and GATE material.

I request Malli, Sujith, Vennel Raj or Candy to inform us about the costs of the Brilliant tutorials and their procurement.

Objectives of the Team to help the department

As proposed by Saiki, we need to form a team of alumni that can co-ordinate the activities to help our alma mater. I reproduced the contents of the mail sent by Saiki about the objectives of the team.

1. Interested alumni will form a group (as everyone might not be interested, due to their work load or whatever might be the reason).I say so because this effort should not be a forceful one.

2. IT IS OK IF SOME ALUMNI ARE NOT A PART OF THIS. IT IS TOTALLY BY ONE'S OWN CHOICE.

3. During our PhD/Post-doc period there is always stress. But sometimes it is a lot. So when one or two of us are in that phase, where we cannot think of anything else, then there should be others who will be able to contribute.

4. So when one or two of us are busy, the whole effort goes on. That is the idea.

However, we need some more development on this concept.
1. Think of a name for our group or the team.
2. Need to make a proper aims and objectives or goals of the group.
3. Need to involve the alumni and present students on a large scale. (Like Sai students group)
4. Need for Division of Labour of our tasks.
5. Need to give a chance for other intrested alumni and students who want to contribute to this forum.

I shall start working on the aims and objectives of the forum. I would be more happy if others also start thinking about it. We should be as critical as possible of others comments so that we get good output.

Blog authors to take care of "OUR" blog

I have changed the settings of this blog. Previously, it can be modified only by me. I have included the names of Malli, Bharath, Kanth, Saiki and Pradeep. I need the gmail ids of Premananda, Kamesh, Candy, Vennel Raj too. These blog authors can post the entries.

The others can comment for specific topics. Some one should take the initiative to keep the blog active with posts that can be informative to our target audience: students , alumni and teachers of Department of Bioscience.

The topics can be diverse. It can be some advice to others regarding various topics, some intresting facts in science (you can post on immunology, microbiology, molecular biology etc), career advice and latest news. The blog authors can divide themselves to post on specific topics.

I am happy to see Bharath's comment to my post. This post is the result of his comments. Please register yourself as a "follower" so that you are updated with this blog regularly.

Nice website with useful tips

I came across this website of Alexander Fleming "Biomedical Sciences Research Center". They give useful tips for making an effective presentation, writing an article and preparing a poster.
Visit the site for more information.

http://www.fleming.gr/en/Education/tutorials.html

Welcome to Bioalumni

Sairam, This blog was created with the objective of interaction between the alumni and the present students of the Department of Biosciences, Sri Sathya Sai University, Prasanthi Nilayam.

I am new to blogging and I hope we can make it a better forum for interaction and discussion.