DNA Chip Database for the Korean Functional Genomics Project

The Korean functional Genomics Project focuses on stomach and liver cancers. Specimens collected by six hospital teams are used in BNA microarray experiments. Experimental conditions, spot measurement data, and the associated clinical information are stored in a relational database. Microarray database schema was developed based on EBI's ArrayExpress. A diagrammatic representation of the schema is used to help navigate over marty tables in the database. Field description, table-to-table relationship, and other database features are also stored in the database and these are used by a PERL interface program to generate web-based input forms on the fly. As such, it is rather simple to modify the database definition and implement controlled vocabularies. This PERL program is a general-purpose utility which can be used for inputting and updating data in relational databases. It supports file upload and user-supplied filters of uploaded data. Joining related tables is implemented using JavaScripts, allowing this step to be deferred to a later stage. This feature alleviates the pain of inputting data into a multi-table database and promotes collaborative data input among several teams. Pathological finding, clinical laboratory parameters, demographical information, and environmental factors are also collected and stored in a separate database. The same PERL program facilitated developing this database and its user-interface.