(NIH – University of Oregon)
PI: M. Haendel
Our understanding of human disease is vitally informed by the use of model systems to investigate disease mechanisms and therapies. Our goal of this work is to facilitate the identification of models for disease research, make better use of existing model organisms and in vitro resources and data about them, and provide the ability to uncover new relationships between disease, phenotypes and genes that will further our understanding of disease. To this end we will : 1) Enable computation of candidate disease models based on semantic similarity of phenotypes using imported and aligned phenotype data from humans and model organisms. We will include expression data to refine search of phenotypes based on presence of expression within a particular anatomical location and/or genotype. 2) Expand semantic linkage between diseases and in vitro model systems, including resources such as biospecimens and cell lines. 3) Create a discovery tool to refine searches and to uncover novel relationships between diseases, model organisms, and in vitro resources using genetic, pathway, and phenotype relationships.