Using BioCoRE In Your Course

Welcome to BioCoRE, the Biological Collaborative Research Environment.

The main BioCoRE website is located at http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/biocore/ and contains information and instruction on utilizing BioCoRE to its fullest potential. Additional help documentation is available on many of the modules at the above site.

To familiarize yourself with BioCoRE and its capabilities, we suggest that you view the BioCoRE Tour, which is available at http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/biocore/tour/.

Your instructors will inform you of which aspects of BioCoRE they wish to use in class, but several of the most common are:

  • BioFS - BioCoRE contains a user filesystem that is often used to transfer files back and forth among coursemates and instructors. You can fully access the BioCoRE BioFS from the web, or you can use WebDAV to actually mount the BioFS onto your own computer, which makes it looks like a regular folder on your desktop. WebDAV is the suggested method of access for the BioFS.

    Instructions on setting up WebDAV on your computer:
    http://biocore.ks.uiuc.edu/biocore/docs/webdav.html

  • Control Panel - The Control Panel can be used for chatting among project members and is also used for the delivery of polls and quizzes that your instructor might have for you. The Control Panel runs using Java on your computer.

    Instructions on setting up Java and the Control Panel on your computer:
    http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/biocore/javawebstart.shtml

  • Job Management - BioCoRE can submit computational jobs on your behalf to computers where you get an account for class use. (more information)

  • VMD Saved States - Studying molecular structures in your course can be greatly simplified by using VMD BioCoRE supports saving VMD states which can then be shared among class members.

  • Message Boards - BioCoRE's message boards can be used both for asking questions as well as dissemination of information from your instructor.

BioCoRE requires you to have a "full" account before accessing its features. If you already have a BioCoRE account, you don't need to create a special one for this class. You can jump to the next paragraph where you inform your instructor of your BioCoRE account name. If you don't yet have an account, you can create one by accessing the BioCoRE site at http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/biocore/ and clicking on the 'New Account' link in the left column, directly below the username/password boxes. From that link you can review the consent form and license and then enter your account creation information, including choosing an account name (be sure to create a full account, and not just a guest account). Once you have done this, the BioCoRE server will send a temporary password to the email account that you have specified.

BioCoRE revolves around the concept of private projects where like-minded people can study a particular topic. Your instructor has set up a project for this course, but you will need to inform your instructor of your BioCoRE account name so that you can be added to this private project.

Notes:

  • You are welcome to use BioCoRE for projects besides this course. You can create your own projects and chose who you wish to allow as members of your project. You can then benefit from any module of BioCoRE that you wish to use.
  • There are several public BioCoRE projects that you can join to discuss various topics. To get the list, you can either click on Project | Public Projects from the Control Panel, or you can click on the Public Projects link from the left sidebar of any BioCoRE page once you are logged in.
  • We hope that you find BioCoRE to be a productivity enhancing tool. If you have any questions about BioCoRE capabilities, please don't hesitate to contact the BioCoRE technical support team at biocore@ks.uiuc.edu