The Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) finds regions of local similarity between sequences. The program compares nucleotide or protein sequences to sequence databases and calculates the statistical significance of matches. BLAST can be used to infer functional and evolutionary relationships between sequences as well as help identify members of gene families. This version allows users to perform sequence similarity searches without restriction they might encounter at a public website and without the work of setting up a stand-alone BLAST image. The AMI includes a FUSE client that automatically downloads the most popular BLAST databases from the NCBI, and users can still upload their own custom databases. The AMI allows users to run stand-alone searches with the BLAST+ applications, submit searches through a subset of the NCBI-BLAST URL API, and perform searches with a simplified webpage.