Web-Portal for the SAGE and EST Analysis Pipeline

New methods in biological sciences are generating large data-sets that require computational analysis and are thus increasingly quantitative.  Transcriptomic techniques, such as serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) coupled with next-gen sequencing generate libraries with ten to hundreds of thousands of expressed gene sequenced tags in a single reaction.  Determination of biological meaning from these large data-sets can be streamlined using dedicated computational tools, e.g. servers, software, and algorithmic techniques and theories.  Our goal is to create a web-based portal (portal) designed to address the specific computational needs of a biology lab.

The initial steps of this project focused on the file types and the design and/or integration of the software being used by the researchers in the biology lab into a useable, practical form, i.e. making the files and software inter-changeable between the server (Linux) operating system and the lab’s desktop (Windows) operating system.  At this point, we are streamlining the efficacy of the analysis pipeline’s programming on the server.

This initial web-based portal will act as a “proof of concept” for researchers in other labs at this institution, California State University San Marcos (CSUSM).  In that, other portals will be integrated into the same web-based dashboard to make all of this institution’s research data available to other researchers and participants through web-based accounts, in an effort to foster interdisciplinary practices.  In conclusion, the aim is to develop a web-based dashboard that makes available to researchers in the labs here at CSUSM quick and easy tools for data analysis.