Neurocarta: online platform for integration and sharing of phenotypic and genomics information

This work is part of neuroinformatics core activities developed in support of NeuroDevNet, a large Canadian research network funded by the Networks of Centres of Excellence, devoted to the study of brain development with the goal to translate this knowledge into improved diagnosis, prevention and treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders. As part of the NeuroDevNet Neuroinformatics Core mission, we are developing an online platform that integrates information on genes for the analysis and interpretation of neurodevelopmental data produced within the network. The core concept of the “candidate gene manager” is to allow users to track information about genes in a flexible way, but with rich connections to other data. It is developed as an extension of Gemma (http://www.chibi.ubc.ca/Gemma), a database and software system for the meta-analysis of functional genomics data. On the screenshot provided, the top-left panel lists all phenotypes currently annotated, the top-right panel shows the list of genes that have been shown to be associated with the selected phenotype(s), and the bottom panel shows the list of evidence, each row being expandable to provide more details. Our system currently hosts 17,000 evidence linking 4,500 genes to 1,500 different phenotypes, annotated from the literature and public databases. A major goal is to build on existing and new knowledge emerging from the network to increase our understanding of neurodevelopmental disorders and the relationships among them at the genetic and phenotypic levels.