British researchers will be able to link directly to the largest computer network in the US from October, giving them access to computers and databases and easing communication with their American counterparts and other colleagues worldwide. This will encourage collaboration and could raise the international profile of British researchers.
Among those certain to benefit are molecular biologists working on the human genome project. For the international human genome mapping workshop in London next week, the main repository of genetic information, the Genome Database, will be brought on computer tape across the Atlantic from Baltimore so that delegates can work on it during the workshop (see 'Where does the genome project go from here?', this issue). But, from October, there will be direct access to the database at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
The two networks to be linked are JANET, the Joint Academic Network, which connects nearly all the polytechnic ...
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