Data and animal management software for large-scale phenotype screening

Principles and application of LIMS in mouse clinics

Large-scale systemic mouse phenotyping, as performed by mouse clinics for more than a decade, requires thousands of mice from a multitude of different mutant lines to be bred, individually tracked and subjected to phenotyping procedures according to a standardised schedule. All these efforts are typically organised in overlapping projects, running in parallel. In terms of logistics, data capture, data analysis, result visualisation and reporting, new challenges have emerged from such projects. These challenges could hardly be met with traditional methods such as pen & paper colony management, spreadsheet-based data management and manual data analysis. Hence, different Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) have been developed in mouse clinics to facilitate or even enable mouse and data management in the described order of magnitude. This review shows that general principles of LIMS can be empirically deduced from LIMS used by different mouse clinics, although these have evolved differently. Supported by LIMS descriptions and lessons learned from seven mouse clinics, this review also shows that the unique LIMS environment in a particular facility strongly influences strategic LIMS decisions and LIMS development. As a major conclusion, this review states that there is no universal LIMS for the mouse research domain that fits all requirements. Still, empirically deduced general LIMS principles can serve as a master decision support template, which is provided as a hands-on tool for mouse research facilities looking for a LIMS.

SAPling: a Scan-Add-Print barcoding database system to label and track asexual organisms

We have developed a 'Scan-Add-Print' database system, SAPling, to track and monitor asexually reproducing organisms. Using barcodes to uniquely identify each animal, we can record information on the life of the individual in a computerized database containing its entire family tree. SAPling has enabled us to carry out large-scale population dynamics experiments with thousands of planarians and keep track of each individual. The database stores information such as family connections, birth date, division date and generation. We show that SAPling can be easily adapted to other asexually reproducing organisms and has a strong potential for use in large-scale and/or long-term population and senescence studies as well as studies of clonal diversity. The software is platform-independent, designed for reliability and ease of use, and provided open source from our webpage to allow project-specific customization.

A versatile aquatics facility inventory system with real-time barcode scan entry

Research involving model organisms necessitates recording and archiving many types of animal maintenance and use data. We developed a comprehensive inventory system using FileMaker Pro® to incorporate, record, and archive data on zebrafish stocks, tank organization, husbandry, and fish usage. Our relational database is constructed of tables containing detailed information on fish identity, parents of origin, tank location, mutant phenotypes, caretakers, natural mating and in vitro fertilization experiments, and fish mortality. In addition to its basic annotation and reporting capabilities, the database allows barcode scan entry of several actions, for example, moving a tank of fish, mating or performing in vitro fertilization with specific fish, and recording dead fish. All data are input in real time using either barcode scanning or manual entry. The database provides several types of preformatted reports, as well as printed labels for tank location and stock identification. In summary, we have created a versatile, multipurpose inventory system that can be personalized and enhanced for any zebrafish facility and can be further adapted to organize data and archival information for other model systems or applications.

Laboratory Animal Management Assistant (LAMA): a LIMS for active research colonies

Laboratory Animal Management Assistant (LAMA) is an internet-based system for tracking large laboratory mouse colonies. It has a user-friendly interface with powerful search capabilities that ease day-to-day tasks such as tracking breeding cages and weaning litters. LAMA was originally developed to manage hundreds of new mouse strains generated by a large functional genomics program, the Pleiades Promoter Project ( http://www.pleiades.org ). The software system has proven to be highly flexible, suitable for diverse management approaches to mouse colonies. It allows custom tagging and grouping of animals, simplifying project-specific handling and access to data. Finally, LAMA was developed in close collaboration with mouse technicians to ease the transition from paper- or Excel-based management systems to computerized tracking, allowing data export in a popular spreadsheet format and automatic printing of cage cards. LAMA is an open-access software tool, freely available to the research community at http://launchpad.net/mousedb .

MausDB: an open source application for phenotype data and mouse colony management in large-scale mouse phenotyping projects

Background

Large-scale, comprehensive and standardized high-throughput mouse phenotyping has been established as a tool of functional genome research by the German Mouse Clinic and others. In all these projects, vast amounts of data are continuously generated and need to be stored, prepared for data-mining procedures and eventually be made publicly available. Thus, central storage and integrated management of mouse phenotype data, genotype data, metadata and linked external data are highly important. Requirements most probably depend on the individual mouse housing unit or project and the demand for either very specific individual database solutions or very flexible solutions that can be easily adapted to local demands. Not every group has the resources and/or the know-how to develop software for this purpose. A database application has been developed for the German Mouse Clinic in order to meet all requirements mentioned above.

Results

We present MausDB, the German Mouse Clinic web-based database application that integrates standard mouse colony management, phenotyping workflow scheduling features and mouse phenotyping result data management. It links mouse phenotype data with genotype data, metadata and external data such as public web databases, which is a prerequisite for comprehensive data analysis and mining. We describe how this can be achieved with a lean and user-friendly system built on open standards.

Conclusion

MausDB is suited for large-scale, high-throughput phenotyping facilities but can also be used exclusively for mouse colony management within smaller units or projects. The system is successfully used as the primary mouse and data management tool of the German Mouse Clinic and other mouse facilities. We offer MausDB to the scientific community as open source software to provide a system for storage of data from functional genomics projects in a well-structured, easily accessible form.

MPHASYS: a mouse phenotype analysis system

BACKGROUND

Systematic, high-throughput studies of mouse phenotypes have been hampered by the inability to analyze individual animal data from a multitude of sources in an integrated manner. Studies generally make comparisons at the level of genotype or treatment thereby excluding associations that may be subtle or involve compound phenotypes. Additionally, the lack of integrated, standardized ontologies and methodologies for data exchange has inhibited scientific collaboration and discovery.

RESULTS

Here we introduce a Mouse Phenotype Analysis System (MPHASYS), a platform for integrating data generated by studies of mouse models of human biology and disease such as aging and cancer. This computational platform is designed to provide a standardized methodology for working with animal data; a framework for data entry, analysis and sharing; and ontologies and methodologies for ensuring accurate data capture. We describe the tools that currently comprise MPHASYS, primarily ones related to mouse pathology, and outline its use in a study of individual animal-specific patterns of multiple pathology in mice harboring a specific germline mutation in the DNA repair and transcription-specific gene Xpd.

CONCLUSION

MPHASYS is a system for analyzing multiple data types from individual animals. It provides a framework for developing data analysis applications, and tools for collecting and distributing high-quality data. The software is platform independent and freely available under an open-source license 1.

Madeline 2.0 PDE: a new program for local and web-based pedigree drawing

The Madeline 2.0 Pedigree Drawing Engine (PDE) is a pedigree drawing program for use in linkage and family-based association studies. The program is designed to handle large and complex pedigrees with an emphasis on readability and aesthetics. For complex pedigrees, we use a hybrid algorithm in which consanguinous loops are drawn as cyclic graphs whenever possible, but we resort to acyclic graphs when matings can no longer be connected without line crossings. A similar hybrid approach is used to avoid line crossings for matings between distant descendants of different founding groups. Written in object-oriented C++ and released under the GNU General Public License (GPL), Madeline 2.0 PDE reads input files specified on the command line and generates pedigree drawings without user interaction. Pedigree output in scalable vector graphics (SVG) format can be viewed in browsers with native SVG rendering support or in vector graphics editors. We provide an easy-to-use public web service, which is experimental and still under development.

AVAILABILITY

http://kellogg.umich.edu/madeline.

Can pharmacology possibly have a role for bioinformatics?

In today's information-driven culture, there is virtually no walk of life that is not impacted on by computing. As a bridging discipline in the health sciences with activities that span both basic science and clinical interests, modern pharmacology is no exception. As the plethora of data and databases spawned by the 'omics' generation expand in number and complexity, bioinformatics is necessary to manage, integrate and exploit this cohort of data so that the appropriate links to molecular pathology and therapeutic response can be made. Bioinformatics is now an integral part of drug discovery and development. This article reviews the use of bioinformatics in this process, from target identification and validation, to pharmacogenomics, toxicogenomics and systems biology.