Privacy

Cookies and similar technologies

When you first visit thebondlab.net, a cookie banner lets you accept all cookies or reject non-essential cookies. Essential use means the site and tools still work without analytics or personalised advertising cookies.

Non-essential cookies may be used for Google Analytics (traffic measurement) and Google AdSense (advertising). We use Google Consent Mode so these services respect your choice until you accept. Your preference is stored in your browser (local storage key bondlab_cookie_consent) so the banner does not reappear on every page.

You can change your mind anytime by clearing site data for thebondlab.net in your browser, which will show the banner again on your next visit. You can also block or delete cookies through browser settings.

Analytics

We use Google Analytics (GA4) to understand aggregate traffic — for example which pages are visited and how the site performs technically. Google may collect information such as pages viewed, approximate location, device type, and referral source. Analytics may rely on cookies or similar technologies as described in Google’s Privacy Policy. You can use browser controls to limit cookies and tracking, and you can opt out of Google Analytics using Google’s browser add-on where available.

Advertising (Google AdSense)

Some pages display advertisements served by Google AdSense and other advertising partners. Google and its partners may use cookies and similar technologies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this site or other sites, to limit how often you see an ad, and to measure ad performance.

Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to this site and/or other sites on the Internet. You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting:

• Google Ad Settings
• aboutads.info choices (US)
• Your Online Choices (EU)

For more on how Google uses data when you use partner sites or apps, see How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services. Our publisher identifier for ads.txt is pub-1026760236875256 (see ads.txt on this domain).

Tool inputs and server processing

When you run a calculator or sequence utility, your inputs are processed so the tool can return results. Treat unpublished data, identifiable human information, and confidential materials accordingly — do not submit sensitive personal health information unless your local policies explicitly allow it and you accept any associated risk.

Details of retention (how long inputs or outputs are kept on servers, if at all) depend on hosting configuration. Where feasible we minimise retention of submitted content beyond what is needed to complete a request.

News summaries

Articles under News on thebondlab.net are short editorial summaries of external research announcements or publications. They are written for researchers and educators, are not medical advice, and may omit detail from the original source. Each summary links to the primary publication or press release; figures are credited on the page where possible and remain subject to the original publisher’s copyright.

Third‑party services

Some tools load data from external sites when you request them, for example:

• Protein structures may be fetched from the RCSB PDB when you enter a PDB ID (their terms and privacy policy apply to those requests).

Quarterly newsletter

If you use the newsletter form in the site footer, we store your email address and whether you are subscribed or unsubscribed. Records are kept in a comma-separated file on the Hostinger web server that serves thebondlab.net. Each row also records when you subscribed, unsubscribed, or last changed your preference.

We use that list only to send occasional quarterly updates about The Bond Lab site, tools, and related research news. We do not sell or rent newsletter addresses, and we do not use them for unrelated marketing. You can unsubscribe at any time with the same form. New subscriptions require you to tick a consent checkbox on the form; that records your agreement under UK GDPR (lawful basis: consent). Unsubscribe does not require the checkbox.

The form is processed by a small server script on Hostinger. It does not add you to a third-party mailing platform automatically. If you contact us separately by email, that correspondence is handled outside this list file.

Contact & updates

For questions about privacy, this site, or lab research, email mark.bond@bristol.ac.uk or use our Contact Us page. See also Terms of Use. We may revise this notice from time to time; the current version will always be posted here with an updated “Last updated” date.