December 1, 2012 (Vol. 32, No. 21)
URL:
http://masspec.scripps.edu/index.php
Rating:
Strong Points: Good introduction to MS, link to data analysis tool
Weak Points: Poor site design, cumbersome navigation
Summary:
While certainly not the most polished-looking of websites, the page for the Scripps Center for Metabolomics and Mass Spectrometry is worth a visit. The Center is focused on developing mass spectrometry-based methods to study and characterize metabolites; as such, a large portion of the website is devoted to introducing visitors to mass spectrometry (MS). This includes a history of mass spec, as well as a very detailed introductory section that answers the question, what is mass spec? The content is very useful, although navigation through the various text sections of the website is somewhat cumbersome. (For instance, when navigating to specific sections of the text via the table of contents, there is considerable lag.) Beyond informing the masses about MS, the website also links to METLIN, a metabolite and tandem MS database, as well as to XCMS online, which is an online MS data processing tool.