FactBio Launches Annotated Metadata Collection

CAMBRIDGE, UK - Oct 30, 2017 - FactBio has launched the Annotated Metadata Collection, a collection of commonly used, high interest, curated reference meta- data sets for the life sciences community.

The Annotated Metadata Collection covers a wide range of areas such as functional genomics, genomic variation and toxicology. For functional genomics, specific source databases include EMBL-EBIArrayExpress and Expression Atlas, and NCBI GEO.

Alongside this, FactBio is also developing datasets from areas such as Genomic Variation and Toxicology. This will include databases such as the European Variation Archive, GWAS catalog, DiXa, and TOXNET.

The datasets are curated using Kusp, FactBio’s data curation and annotation platform, which allows curation and annotation to be completed with a high degree of accuracy. Alongside the ability to access public data through a single and easy to use interface, users can also upload and annotate their own private data.

Dr Amy Tang, Product Manager at FactBio, and the creator of the Collection said:

“The Collection has been developed in response to a growing demand for such high quality annotated reference meta-data. As the amount of public data continues to grow, annotation and curation will incur more time and cost if using traditional tools.  Kusp, FactBio’s data annotation and curation platform was developed to cope with the upward trend of meta-data growth, striking the balance between curation efficiency and quality. Through this collection, users are quickly able to consume high quality data which has been annotated to the highest standards using Kusp.”

The launch of the Annotated Data Collection follows the launch of Kusp Academic earlier this year, and the successful launch of Kusp in 2016. 2017 has also seen the launch of Kusp 2.0, which added a number of important functions, including improved annotation algorithms and an ability to share BioBuckets between users.