The BioCarta website is an interactive online resource targeted to the life science research community. It was formed by a group of scientists and engineers who recognized the constraints and obsolescence of hard copy scientific literature. The content on the website can be di-tions that would surpass the efforts of a single group. The BioCarta home page (Fig. 1) provides quick links to a number of featured genes and gene product pathways. There is also a section on the home page that allows the user to search for a gene in a variety of different organisms by gene symbol. There is a virtual tour available that introduces the new user to the site and the philosophy behind it. The home page also contains additional information such as news, contact info, site sponsors, terms of use, and the privacy policy. The home page, like the majority of the site, is appealing to the eye and is easy to navigate. Site users are encouraged to create links from their own web pages to those on the BioCarta site.

The Gene Search area on the site enables the user to search multiple online databases for gene-specific information. Figure 2 shows the search interface that allows the user to query by gene name or gene symbol. Additional search parameters include category (eg, adhesion, apoptosis,