DiscoverySpace

DiscoverySpace is a graphical software application that intends to free the biologist from the micro-level, syntactic detail of the underlying data structures to concentrate on the "big picture" and the meaning of experimental results. Originally designed to support SAGE gene expression analysis, DiscoverySpace is particularly aimed at the non-technical biologist who wishes to utilize high-thoughput bioinformatic techniques without the learning curve associated with scripting languages and database queries.

Project Description

Biological data is complex, dynamic and is generated at a phenomenal rate. To obtain meaningful results from such data sets the biologist needs to be familiar not only with the types of data available, but also with how these data sets are structured and how they are related.

DiscoverySpace provides a comprehensive graphical query builder for defining subsets of the available data, which can then be related to associated datasets in a familiar spreadsheet-like interface. The application provides powerful statistical analysis tools allowing the user to compare large sets of data and elicit similarities and patterns. And, dependent upon available annotations, datasets can be also interpreted with regards to their associated Gene Ontology (GO) terms.

Backed by a relational database system, DiscoverySpace is able to query and link massive amounts of data from over 25 publicly available datasources, as well as internally generated experimental results. As more data is published, and as data resources are further refined and standardized, DiscoverySpace will grow in power and capability and will continue to offer the biologist an intuitive tool for navigating the available knowledge space.

 

Documentation

Primers and FAQs detailing the powerful features of DiscoverySpace and the steps necessary to start exploring the knowledge space. Read more »

A poster presentation (April 2005) serves as a high-level introduction to key concepts behind DiscoverySpace. The poster includes many large-format screenshots from the application.

Citation

To acknowledge DiscoverySpace:

Neil Robertson , Mehrdad Oveisi-Fordorei , Scott D Zuyderduyn , Richard J Varhol , Christopher Fjell , Marco Marra , Steven Jones and Asim Siddiqui, DiscoverySpace: an interactive data analysis application. Genome Biol, 2007 Jan 8;8(1):R6