AssociationDB: web-based exploration of genomic association.

Abstract

Genome-wide association studies use hundreds of thousands of markers making it challenging to present and finally interpret the results. We developed a graphical, web-based solution for an interactive exploration of the results of case-control studies, with a tight integration of related gene information and tissue-specific expression data. Association results are presented as physical position-based vertical bars with known genes included as horizontal bars at their respective physical positions. The interface allows the specification of filtering criteria for the association data and highlights potentially interesting genes with user-specified terms occurring in their reports or with relevant expression patterns. Pop-up windows and hyperlinks provide drill-down capabilities and quick access to relevant data AssociationDB can either be used as a stand-alone solution or as a front-end joining association results obtained by other software with genomic information.