National Centers for Systems Biology

New Centers – Start Here

The National Centers for Systems Biology Portal (http://www.systemscenters.org/) was created to publicize and facilitate the dissemination of Center resources. We use the content management system, WordPress, to update the Portal. By using this system, each Center is able to maintain their own content on the site.

First Steps

All new Centers should send the following information to Imogen Hurley (imogen.hurley@jax.org; Center for Genome Dynamics):

  1. Image to represent your Center on the Portal homepage
  2. Description of your Center for your Center’s summary page (for example, the Harvard Center’s page here)
  3. Names and email addresses of the people within your Center who will be responsible for updating your Center’s content

A WordPress account will be created for the people from your Center who will take care of your updates. Tutorials are available over the phone from Imogen Hurley (Center for Genome Dynamics) to show your designee(s) how WordPress works. The system is very intuitive and administrators without computational experience at the other Centers have picked it up quickly.

Next Steps

Once your Center has started organizing events and generating resources then your designee should add this information to the Portal. Instructions for editing the Portal can be found here:

A conference call is held to discuss the Portal three times a year. These calls include representatives from all of the Centers and also the NIH. Minutes from previous calls are here (password required). The conference call coordinator will contact all representatives in advance to arrange a mutually agreeable time for the call.