Dockstore

Dockstore provides a registry of Docker-based bioinformatics tools and standardized, machine-readable descriptions to enable reproducible sharing and execution of genomic analysis workflows, including alignment and variant calling for whole genomes, across cloud and high-performance computing (HPC) environments and projects such as the ICGC PanCancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG).

Key Features:

• Docker integration: Integrates Docker images with standardized, machine-readable methods for describing and executing the tools contained within them.
• Portable workflows: Encapsulates alignment and variant calling workflows in portable Docker containers for consistent execution across infrastructures.
• Standardized descriptions: Provides a standardized framework and machine-readable descriptions to address the absence of a uniform method for detailing and running encapsulated tools.
• GA4GH alignment: Aligns tool and workflow descriptions with Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) web service standards to enhance interoperability.
• Cross-environment execution: Enables execution and reuse of workflows across cloud and high-performance computing (HPC) systems.
• Reproducibility and sharing: Facilitates reproducibility and sharing of complex bioinformatics workflows among genomics projects.

Scientific Applications:

• Large-scale genomic analysis: Enables analysis of large-scale genomic datasets in cloud-based environments.
• Whole-genome alignment and variant calling: Supports alignment and variant calling across numerous whole genomes as required by projects such as the ICGC PanCancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG).
• Translational genomics and precision medicine: Supports reproducible deployment of workflows for translational genomics and precision medicine initiatives.

Methodology:

Encapsulates tools and workflows in Docker containers and attaches standardized, machine-readable descriptions for execution, aligning those descriptions with GA4GH web service standards for cross-environment interoperability.