Diabetes Research Vortex : a novel information management system for Type I diabetes

Abstract

Information management is becoming a necessary task for modem research laboratories. As scientific research within a particular domain progresses, the amount of data and publications in the domain increases drastically. Type one diabetes (TID) research is no exception. The DRV (Diabetes Research Vortex) addresses the information management challenge. The DRV's main objective is to provide a web accessible information management system for diabetes related publications and experimental data. The DRV was inspired by current T1D research paradigms. A user can choose to upload a publication or experimental data under one of four research categories: a strain, gene, Idd (Insulin Dependent Diabetic) genetic region, or custom keyword. The effectiveness of the DRV lies in the biological concepts it encapsulates. The DRV allows a user to view the system's contents by browsing a strain, gene, Idd, or custom keyword. Furthermore, the DRV allows a user to seamlessly browse among related strains, genes, and Idd's. The DRV links information between each of these domains and allows a user to intuitively acquire knowledge about a specific interest. The system can also be asked to mine publications from PubMed based the terms stored in the -four aforementioned categories. Furthermore, the system complies with the MIAME standard (Minimum Information About Microarray Experiment). Therefore, the system allows a systematic way to upload and retrieve microarray data. The DRV presents a starting point for a TID information management system. The concepts governing the overall design of the DRV should also be relevant and applicable to many other research fields.

(cont.) Therefore, the potential impact of the DRV may stretch beyond the domain of T1D.