OCDAP Development and Improvements

This is the OCDAP Development and Improvements page. It provides a list of improvements the creators know need to be made. Any collaborators should feel free to suggest any other improvements or ideas for the project as well, which can then be reviewed and added to the list.

OCDAP To-Do List:

• NCBI integration within OCDAP’s webpage

  -Create a window within OCDAP’s webpage that allows users to search through the NCBI database without leaving or going to a different page.

  -Once the user finds the desired DNA sequence, they could click a button that makes OCDAP retrieve the pertinent information from the page. Knowing the gene ID beforehand would not be necessary.

• More convenient visualization

  -Create a left-hand section that would follow as the screen is scrolled up or down. The information would include the selected restriction enzyme’s name and cut site information, the name of the selected gene from NCBI, and the number of times the enzyme can cut in the selected gene.

  -Incorporate information boxes that appear as you hover over an individual restriction site. This information box would display the position of the restriction site within the gene and what kind of cut it is.

• Multiple restriction enzymes at once

  -Modify the code so that multiple restriction enzymes can be selected at once. In this case, the names of the enzymes would be listed above their respective restriction sites, but clicking on the name of the enzyme would bring up the same kind of information box that the hover box would depending on the enzyme the user clicked.

  -Other ways of displaying info about mutliple enzymes?

• Create a way for users to manipulate or edit the visualization

  -Create tools for user to visually manipulate the DNA display results on the screen since finding the restriction sites is only part of what a researcher has to account for in restriction mapping (promoter regions, etc.).

• Cookies for local memory

  -By using cookies, the browser on the user’s local computer could remember what the user searched for most recently. Users could then come back to the page having not lost their progress.

• Integrate more restriction enzymes

  -Some enzymes have been excluded from the menu due to IUPAC code, but these enzymes need to be included. Different functions need to be made to accommodate for these enzymes.