You know groups within ResearchGATE as what they are, just groups. But we decided that this is not enough within the world of science - it does not reflect the structure of the research process. Therefore, we have added two features to the groups, what will bring us a large step ahead towards Science 2.0: First, groups can now be categorized, e.g. as an institute, a research group or simply people of similiar interests. It might even be a convention or conference. Secondly, the groups can now be "grouped" with each other, meaning groups can be related to other groups.

Ijad Madisch introduced ResearchGATE at the ESOF Conference in Barcelona on July 21. The “Euroscience Interactive Workshop: Development of a Virtual Network Custom-Sesigned for Scientists” started with the statements of three scientists (Jens Degett, Roberto Poli and Peter Westh, from left to right), all of them complaining about too little exchange between researchers and scientific disciplines. The panelists, as well as the audience, were quite impressed by our tool, designed for exactly this need. Said Peter Westh (Life Scientist at the University of Roskilde, Denmark), after having followed Ijad’s presentation: “Congratulations, I see a huge potential in ResearchGATE! I’m looking forward to use it myself.”

Many hopes on effective treatment of fatal diseases in the near future rely on research in regenerative biology and reconstructive therapy. In order to advance work in these fields, Hannover Medical School has recently founded REBIRTH (acronym for REgenerative BIology and Reconstructive THerapy) as a centre for basic as well as clinical research. REBIRTH follows an interdisciplinary approach, uniting seven high-profile partner institutions in a single cluster and combining biomedical disciplines with chemistry, mechanics, and physics, including photonics. To help achieve this goals, ResearchGATE has partnered with REBIRTH.

One of the main success factors in science is staying informed. At ResearchGATE, following recent developments has become even easier with our new features: We enhanced your homepage to make it your window to all activities within the ResearchGATE community. Not always online? Just set up notifications keeping you informed about new entries to your discussion groups, file uploads and appointments. Worried about a congested email account? Deactivate your notifications with one click of your mouse. ResearchGATE respects your privacy and leaves your degree of involvement up to you. Our interest is a long trustful relationship – built by and for the international research community.

View our demo for a more detailed description of the improvements.

Today, we happily announce a new cooperation partner: ChemSpider, a website providing a chemistry search engine, invites you to join its discussion group on ResearchGATE. ChemSpider has a declared mission of "building a structure-centric community for chemists", making it a perfect match for ResearchGATE. In the future ResearchGATE and Chemspider are planning to jointly implement features for chemistry information and handling. This collaboration is another step towards building a web-based scientific community for the benefit of all. We welcome you to become part of it!

ResearchGATE has become a major issue in the world wide web: Google offers more than 10.000 hits if you enter “researchgate” into the search field. Of course, nobody can read them all, so we made a small selection for you. There are pieces in newspapers like the University World News as well as several entries in blogs such as Science Blog, SciBlog, the EMBO Life Sciences Mobility Portal and EurActiv. For all the rest, check your favourite search engine!

We just integrated a new tool to our platform: With ReMeet, you will be able to schedule group appointments online. It is easy to use:

1) Start a poll within your group
2) Spread the link to members
3) Wait for their replies
4) Confirm or reschedule the appointment

View our demo for a more detailed description of the workflow.

A rapidly progressing, fatal neurodegenerative disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) is still neglected by mainstream pharmaceutical research. To raise awareness and help accelerate the development of treatments, ResearchGATE has decided to partner with the non-profit organization Prize4Life by providing a platform for a continuous conference on ALS. The mission of Prize4Life, founded by Harvard Business School alumnus Avichai Kremer, an ALS patient, is to accelerate the discovery of a treatment and a cure for ALS by using powerful incentives to attract new people and new ideas and to leverage existing efforts and expertise in the ALS field.

Today, we are happy to introduce a new cutting-edge feature on our platform: REstoRY, the smart file-sharing tool for research collaborations of any kind. From now on, you will be able to exchange all your files with co-researchers via ResearchGATE, let it be research papers, grant applications, charts or presentations. These files will be safely stored online. They are easily accessible for you and your collaborators anytime, whether you are at conference, in your hotel or at home.

ResearchGATE and the International Academy of Life Sciences (IALS) launched a cooperation in the area of scientific networking. The IALS will establish ResearchGATE’s technology as the number one communication platform among scientists in its transatlantic network, enabling them to communicate more efficiently about ongoing research and other current projects.

ResearchGATE has been invited by Euroscience for a presentation at their Euroscience Open Forum from 18^th to 22^nd of July 2008 in Barcelona. It will take place on the second-last day of the conference during the session “Euroscience's Interactive Workshop: Development of a virtual network custom designed for scientists”. We are looking forward to discussing our project with the science community at the forum. Up to 5000 researchers and 500 science journalists are expected to attend the conference. We’ll keep you informed.