Artikelaktionen
Bioinformatics & Systems Biology
- Overview
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Today, massively parallel DNA sequencing or hybridization approaches allow the identification of not only the gene repertoire but also the gene regulatory networks of an organism. The huge amounts of data acquired from such experiments can only be handled with intensive bioinformatics support that has to provide an adequate infrastructure for storing and analyzing these data. Thus, bioinformatics has to deliver efficient data analysis algorithms, user-friendly tools and software applications, as well as extensive hardware infrastructure for answering such questions.
As part of the Bielefeld-Giessen Resource Center for Microbial Bioinformatics (BiGi), a service unit of the 'German Network for Bioinformatics Infrastructure – de.NBI', the group is focused on data management for genome and post-genome research projects that require new software solutions for systematic data acquisition, secure data storage of structured information, and high-throughput data analysis. Bioinformatics training and education and the cooperation within the German bioinformatics community is a main scope of the group.
- Recent publications
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Metagenome analysis, the assignment of sequences to taxonomic and functional entities, remains a tedious task: large amounts of data need to be processed. We present MGX, a flexible and extensible client/server-framework for the management and analysis of metagenomic datasets; MGX features a comprehensive set of adaptable workflows required for taxonomic and functional metagenome analysis, combined with an intuitive and easy-to-use graphical user interface offering customizable result visualizations. With MGX, we provide a novel metagenome analysis platform giving researchers access to the most recent analysis tools. Its default taxonomic classification pipeline provides equivalent or superior results in comparison to existing tools.
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The introduction of next generation sequencing has caused a steady increase in the amounts of data that have to be processed in modern life science. Sequence alignment plays a key role in the analysis of sequencing data e.g. within whole genome sequencing or metagenome projects. BLAST is a commonly used alignment tool that was the standard approach for more than two decades, but in the last years faster alternatives have been proposed including RapSearch, GHOSTX, and DIAMOND.
- Software
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The huge amounts of data acquired from PolyOmics technologies can only be handled with intensive bioinformatics support that has to provide an adequate data management, efficient data analysis algorithms, and user-friendly software applications. Over the last years, we developed a large scale software suite to substantially support researchers in the field of genome and metagenome, transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome data analysis. As all software applications follow a similar design pattern, experimental data as well as analysis results can be easily integrated to achieve higher-level evaluation and combined visualizations.