New Genomic Knowledgebase Combines Data From 30 Consortia

A University of Michigan team presents its new Genomic Knowledgebase (GenomicKB) in Nucleic Acids Research this week. This graph database combines data from 30 consortia, including from ENCODE, GENCODE, Genotype-Tissue Expression project, and NCBI dbVar, and encompasses 347 million nodes, 1.36 billion edges and 3.9 billion node/edge properties. GenomicKB further has a web-based portal where scientists may submit intuitive graph-based inquiries, such as: find "two genes which are both related to signal transduction, located on the same chromosome, and form ligand-receptor pairs," according to the developers. "With this portal, GenomicKB is capable of answering human genomics-related questions and conducting multi-modal analysis with a coding-free and interactive queries," the Michigan team adds. "Therefore, we expect that GenomicKB can attract researchers with diverse backgrounds and promote open science in genomic research."