This week, we profile GeneMANIA a web tool developed by a team of researchers in the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research at the University of Toronto. Dr. Gary Bader, one of the PI’s involved in the development of GeneMania, kindly answered our questions.
- In one tweet or less, introduce us to your tool/database/website.
GeneMANIA predicts gene function.
- Who is your target audience?
Experimental biologists (website) and computational biologists (associated download data and command line tools)
- Why did you create your tool?
Because it was one of the best performing algorithms in the MouseFunc competition
- What is your greatest success story so far?
A number of papers have used GeneMANIA as their primary analysis. For instance, O’Roak et al. used GeneMANIA to reveal a highly interconnected protein network of de novo mutations in sporadic autism.
- What improvements are coming in the future?
Support for building GeneMANIA yourself for an organism of interest. Totally redesigned and streamlined user interface that will also work on touch and mobile devices.
- Who is the team behind your tool?
PIs: Quaid Morris, Gary Bader
Current team: Khalid Zuberi, Harold Rodriguez, Max Franz
Thanks to Dr. Gary Bader, for guiding us through this awesome tool. Be sure to check out their plugin in the plugin library.