Introduction
The Boehringer/Roche "Biochemical Pathways" wall chart is a carefully arranged map of metabolism. It is larger than DIN A0 format: an enormous 1.4 x 1 m; but despite its unhandy size it's hanging in many laboratories around the world. Digital databases of metabolism like KEGG and MetaCyc can feel overwhelming to navigate on a small computer screen. Maybe it's indeed the comforting feeling of paper that makes researchers put up this wall chart with joy?
Unfortunately, though, coming from an analogue pen-and-paper world, the "Biochemical Pathways" poster is not that easily accessible for automated computer analyses. I wanted to know how many of the reactions on this poster are characterized in terms of their apparent equilibrium constants. I ended up colouring them with pencil myself, a process I don't want anyone to need to repeat.
This webinar is going to celebrate the "Biochemical Pathways" wall chart. It will look into how to bring this poster into a digitally tractable form. Similarly, this webinar will celebrate the "Goldberg reviews" for the enormous effort in bringing together data about apparent equilibrium constants from primary literature. Finally, it will look into what happens when you make computers let do the work for you in marrying thermodynamics and metabolism, and what to learn from this effort.