UNLABELLED: LigDig is a web server designed to answer questions that previously required several independent queries to diverse data sources. It also performs basic manipulations and analyses of the structures of protein-ligand complexes. The LigDig webserver is modular in design and consists of seven tools, which can be used separately, or via linking the output from one tool to the next, in order to answer more complex questions. Currently, the tools allow a user to: (i) perform a free-text compound search, (ii) search for suitable ligands, particularly inhibitors, of a protein and query their interaction network, (iii) search for the likely function of a ligand, (iv) perform a batch search for compound identifiers, (v) find structures of protein-ligand complexes, (vi) compare three-dimensional structures of ligand binding sites and (vii) prepare coordinate files of protein-ligand complexes for further calculations. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: LigDig makes use of freely available databases, including ChEMBL, PubChem and SABIO-RK, and software programs, including cytoscape.js, PDB2PQR, ProBiS and Fconv. LigDig can be used by non-experts in bio- and chemoinformatics. LigDig is available at: http://mcm.h-its.org/ligdig. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

"Scientific community" refers to a group of people collaborating together on scientific-research-related activities who also share common goals, interests, and values. Such communities play a key role in many bioinformatics activities. Communities may be linked to a specific location or institute, or involve people working at many different institutions and locations. Education and training is typically an important component of these communities, providing a valuable context in which to develop skills and expertise, while also strengthening links and relationships within the community. Scientific communities facilitate: (i) the exchange and development of ideas and expertise; (ii) career development; (iii) coordinated funding activities; (iv) interactions and engagement with professionals from other fields; and (v) other activities beneficial to individual participants, communities, and the scientific field as a whole. It is thus beneficial at many different levels to understand the general features of successful, high-impact bioinformatics communities; how individual participants can contribute to the success of these communities; and the role of education and training within these communities. We present here a quick guide to building and maintaining a successful, high-impact bioinformatics community, along with an overview of the general benefits of participating in such communities. This article grew out of contributions made by organizers, presenters, panelists, and other participants of the ISMB/ECCB 2013 workshop "The 'How To Guide' for Establishing a Successful Bioinformatics Network" at the 21st Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) and the 12th European Conference on Computational Biology (ECCB).

An academic conference is a traditional platform for researchers and professionals to network and learn about recent developments and trends in a particular academic field [1–4]. Typically, the organizing committees and sponsors decide the main theme and sub-topics of the conference and select the presenters based on peer-reviewed papers [5]. The selected speakers usually share their research with a large audience by means of presentations and posters. However, the most stimulating discussions generally take place over coffee breaks when attendees can interact with each other and discuss various topics, including their own research interests, in a more informal manner [1, 6, 7], while expanding their own professional networks. An emphasis on facilitating such informal/networking interactions is a central focus of “unconventional conferences”—or “unconferences.”