What Services Are Provided?
The Bioinformatics Resource Centers (BRCs) for Infectious Diseases program was initiated in 2004 with the main objective of collecting, archiving, updating, and integrating a variety of research data and providing such information through user friendly interfaces and computational analysis tools to be made freely available to the scientific community. The BRC program consists of four centers, each specializing in a different group of pathogens. Pathogens examined by the BRCs include, but are not limited to, those in the NIAID list of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, which includes NIAID Category A-C priority pathogens. The four BRCs specialize in the following groups of pathogens:
- All bacterial species
- All viral families including influenza virus
- All eukaryotic pathogen species including fungi
- Invertebrate vectors of human pathogens
Each center
- Stores, updates, integrates, and displays the following types of data and associated metadata: genome sequence and annotation, functional genomics, proteomics, metagenomics, other, “-omics,” epidemiology, surveillance, population genetics, genotype/phenotype association, antimicrobial resistance, antigenic expression, host-pathogen interactions, host response, basic and clinical
- Makes available analytical resources, bioinformatics tools, workspaces and services for data analysis
- Offers bioinformatics training at the BRC sites, scientific conferences, or at the requesting institution or laboratory
- Collaborates with and supports data generated by the scientific community including NIAID-funded programs including the Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance (CEIRS), International Centers of Excellence for Malaria Research (ICEMR), Functional Genomics Program, Genomic Centers for Infectious Diseases, and Systems Biology for Infectious Diseases Research.
- Responds rapidly to new and emerging pandemic threats
Where Are Services Provided?
The four Bioinformatics Resource Centers provide data, tools, and services related to the above-mentioned groups of pathogens, which can be accessed through publicly available sites including
Access
Data, bioinformatics tools, and services provided by the BRCs are freely and publicly available to the scientific community through user-friendly Web interfaces. The BRCs provide documents, online tutorials, and user support and training to facilitate the navigation of the website, submission of data and metadata, and utilization of the data analysis tools.
Bioinformatics training opportunities are available to the scientific community at no cost upon request to the BRCs.