This week, we profile the International Knockout Mouse Consortium (IKMC) in our latest Spotlight post.
In one tweet (140 characters) or less, introduce us to your website.
The IKMC web portal is the official web site for the International Knockout Mouse Consortium (IKMC), including KOMP, EUCOMM, NorCOMM, & TIGM.Why is your database unique and special?
The IKMC aims to mutate all protein-coding genes in the mouse using a combination of gene targeting and gene trapping in mouse embryonic stem cells. The IKMC web site provides a central entry point to IKMC data and resources and up-to-date information on IKMC knockout vectors, ES cells, and mice. Researchers can search for genes of interest to learn whether the genes are being targeted by the IKMC. They can examine statuses of targeting projects for genes in different production pipelines, and the detailed molecular structure of targeting vectors and mutant alleles. They can see which targeting vectors, ES cells, or mice are available and follow links to the respective repositories to order these products. Via the web site, researchers can also nominate genes for targeting by the IKMC. Further, the IKMC database provides essential tools to coordinate and prioritize work within the IKMC.Why did you create your website?
The IKMC database and web site was developed to support the coordination and prioritization of IKMC work and to make up-to-date, standardized, and curated information on IKMC data readily available to researchers world-wide. IKMC data are also exported to other relevant community databases such as Ensembl, the UCSC Genome Browser, NCBI, and Mouse Genome Informatics (MGI).Who is your target audience?
All researchers who use the mouse as a model to study the molecular mechanisms that underlie human development and disease.What’s your greatest success story so far?
Having our user inquiries confirm that the web site is being embraced by the research community and serves the intended purpose.What improvements are coming in the future?
The IKMC database is updated on a daily basis and will continue to evolve. Improvements will include the use of BioMart technology to associate IKMC’s data about targeted ES cells and mice with additional biological information from other resources, such as gene expression and phenotype data.Who is the team behind your website?
The IKMC database and web site is maintained by the Knockout Mouse Project Data Coordination Center (KOMP-DCC) supported by the National Institute of Health ((Grant number: NIH HG004074) and by the International Knockout Mouse Consortium Data Coordination Center (I-DCC) supported by the European Union (Project number: 223592), see http://www.knockoutmouse.org/about/komp-dcc and http://www.i-dcc.org/I-DCC/about. The primary people involved in developing and maintaining the site are: Jeremy Mason, Kevin Stone, Hamsa Tadepally, James Kadin, Carol Bult, Janan Eppig, and Martin Ringwald at The Jackson Laboratory; and Vivek Iyer, Darren Oakley and Bill Skarnes at The Sanger Institute.
Thanks to Martin Ringwald for guiding us through the IKMC mission. Be sure to check out their plugin in the plugin library.
