TopoDB

TopoDB manages laboratory rodent colonies, including inbred strains and transgenic mouse lines, and their associated genetic and phenotypic data to support breeding protocols and in vivo experimental design.

Key Features:

• Animal Tracking: Provides a system for tracking individual animals within a colony to support precise management of breeding protocols.
• Data Management: Stores and enables retrieval of genetic and phenotypic data generated from experiments.
• Breeding Protocol Support: Streamlines documentation and execution of breeding protocols to support in vivo study design and implementation.

Scientific Applications:

• Reduction of animal use and housing costs: Improves planning and colony management to reduce the number of animals required for experiments and associated housing expenses.
• Mechanistic and therapeutic evaluation: Manages complex genetic and phenotypic datasets to aid testing mechanistic hypotheses and evaluating the therapeutic potential of candidate compounds in vivo.

Methodology:

Implemented as a web application using Ruby (>= 2.5.2), Ruby on Rails (>= 5.2.0), and Bundler (2.0), with rbenv recommended for managing Ruby gems.