A Collaborative Platform for Sharing and Analyzing Phenotypic Data

In crop genetics and breeding research, phenotypic data are collected for each plant genotype, often in multiple locations and field conditions, in search of the genomic regions that confer improved traits. But what is happening to all of these phenotypic data? Currently, virtually none of the data generated from the hundreds of phenotypic studies conducted each year are being made publically available as raw data.

Project Unity is to correct that wrong, and offers a collaborative network designed to host, manage, analyze and share phenotypic and genotypic studies of plants and animals, provided for free to the academic community.

Unlike other traditional static databases, it has been designed as a network, driven by the academic community, adopting elements taken from social and collaborative networks. Each research lab has its own management system for phenotypes and genotypes, with a simple interface allowing biologists to conduct QTL and GWAS analyses in minutes, annotate their data using common terminology (i.e. ontology) and make smart comparisons to relevant data sets generated by other researchers.

By default, data loaded into Project Unity is private and can be accessed only by the person who uploaded it. Sharing of data sets, either with specific users or with the public is fully upon the user's discretion.

Project Unity simplifies the analysis process of genotypes and phenotypes, creates standardization and allows smart comparison among different data-sets, eventually lead to better understanding of genes effects on phenotypes.