The University of North Carolina, Charlotte is awarded a grant to develop a community resource for collating large-scale genomic datasets within an interactive desktop environment. The project responds to the need for flexible, high-interactive software tools that can deal with the complexity of large genomic data and will include features such as a Quickload repository for large-scale data distribution, a distributed annotation Server for incremental data access, and an integrated genome browser for visualization. Programming tools and tutorials will enable users to build new applications on top of this desktop platform. The system will incorporate enhancements to existing components such as improved query capability, data documentation, and novel visualization techniques.
The visualization system is designed to offer a more interactive experience that will maximize understanding of genomic data among a greater number of researchers and will inspire new trans-disciplinary questions and research opportunities. Educational tools and internship programs in bioinformatics and computational biology carried out by this project will increase awareness and knowledge of computational biology and plants and will introduce more students to the process and joys of scientific research.
