Nucleic Acids Research, 2012, Vol. 40, Database issue D609 Figure 3. Representative example screenshots. The database can be queried from a single search page (A). Gene-centric queries ﬁrst identify a gene of interest with associated annotation information (B) which can then be used to search analysed data and the resulting gene lists or normalized ﬁles grouped by experiment (C). The gene can also be visualized in genome context using a local instance of GBrowse (D). re-analysis of the data sets to provide a uniform platform for inter-experimental comparison. In order to promote interactivity between BmG@Sbase and other databases, a RESTful Application Programming Interface (API) is also in development. This will provide better communication with other data- bases and also allow developers of other resources to be able to query BmG@Sbase directly from within their own database applications and tools. Using this API, MAGE-TAB (7) formatted data will be exported, fur- ther improving database interactivity, a key attribute as we move towards a systems level analysis of biological data. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to acknowledge the valuable feedback provided by BmG@Sbase users, which helps in both the identiﬁcation of bugs and the development of new features. FUNDING The Wellcome Trust under a Functional Genomics Resources Initiative and a Biomedical Resources grant (grant numbers 062511, 080039, 086547). Funding for open access charges: The Wellcome Trust. Conﬂict of interest statement. None declared. REFERENCES 1. Parkhill,J., Birney,E. and Kersey,P. (2010) Genomic information infrastructure after the deluge. Genome Biol., 11, 402–406. 2. Brazma,A., Hingamp,P., Quackenbush,J., Sherlock,G., Spellman,P., Stoeckert,C., Aach,J., Ansorge,W., Ball,C.A., Causton,H.C. et al. (2001) Minimum information about a microarray experiment (MIAME)—toward standards for microarray data. Nat. Genet., 29, 365–371. 3. Taylor,C.F., Field,D., Sansone,S.A., Aerts,J., Apweiler,R., Ashburner,M., Ball,C.A., Binz,P.A., Bogue,M., Booth,T. et al. (2008) Promoting coherent minimum reporting guidelines for biological and biomedical investigations: the MIBBI project. Nat. Biotechnol., 26, 889–896. 4. Witney,A.A. and Hinds,J. (2002) BmG@Sbase – a microarray database and analysis tool. Comparative Funct. Genomics, 3, 369–371. 5. Whetzel,P.L., Parkinson,H., Causton,H.C., Fan,L., Fostel,J., Fragoso,G., Game,L., Heiskanen,M., Morrison,N., Rocca-Serra,P. et al. (2006) The MGED ontology: a resource for semantics-based description of microarray experiments. Bioinformatics, 22, 866–873. 6. Jordan,G.E. and Piel,W.H. (2008) PhyloWidget: web-based visualizations for the tree of life. Bioinformatics, 24, 1641–1642. 7. Rayner,T.F., Rocca-Serra,P., Spellman,P.T., Causton,H.C., Farne,A., Holloway,E., Irizarry,R.A., Liu,J., Maier,D.S., Miller,M. et al. (2006) A simple spreadsheet-based, MIAME-supportive format for microarray data: MAGE-TAB. BMC Bioinformatics, 7, 489.