Mousebook

MouseBook provides access to curated genotype, allele, strain and phenotype data for mutant mouse lines maintained as live or cryopreserved stocks at MRC Harwell.

Key Features:

• Integrated Data Access: Consolidates curated records from the MRC Harwell stock resource and other internal databases and incorporates external resources including the International Mouse Strain Resource (IMSR).
• Advanced Search Capabilities: Supports Google-style free-text search combined with the Mammalian Phenotype (MP) ontology tree structure, with automatic recognition of term types and autocompletion for gene and allele names.
• Identifier and Annotation Support: Enables searches and results using gene names, allele identifiers, strain identifiers such as MGI IDs, phenotype terms, and reports gene, allele and chromosomal location annotations.
• Extensible Infrastructure: Infrastructure allows integration of additional data sources and provides mechanisms for other sites to make their data available through the platform.

Scientific Applications:

• Gene function studies: Facilitates selection of mutant mouse lines annotated by gene and allele for experimental investigations of gene function.
• Phenotype-driven strain selection: Enables identification of strains based on Mammalian Phenotype (MP) ontology terms or phenotype annotations for phenotype-focused experiments.
• Disease modeling: Supports identification of mutant lines relevant to modeling human disease phenotypes.
• Drug discovery and preclinical research: Provides annotated genetic and phenotypic data to select appropriate mouse models for therapeutic testing.

Methodology:

Manually curated data from the MRC Harwell stock resource and other internal and external databases (including IMSR) are integrated; searches combine free-text querying with the MP ontology tree and employ automatic term-type recognition and autocompletion, implemented using web technologies.