NEW YORK, June 7 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've developed a desktop genome analyzer that allows biologists to analyze and process their massive amounts of data rapidly and easily.
Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York say the free open-source software, called GenPlay, can offer biologists a user-friendly, multipurpose tool to help visualize, analyze and transform raw data into biologically relevant findings, a release from the college said Tuesday.
Currently, genomic data is analyzed mainly by information specialists rather than by the biologists who designed the experiments because the experiments produce so much raw data.
"The first human genome was sequenced 10 years ago by an international consortium at a cost of $7 billion," GenPlay co-developer Eric Bouhassira, professor of medicine and cell biology, said. "But today, a complete genome can be sequenced for less than $10,000 and the cost is predicted to drop to less than $1,000 in a few years.
"The dramatic dip in cost has led to the creation of an avalanche of new data that biologists are having trouble analyzing," he said. "GenPlay is intended to make it easier for biologists to make sense of their data."
GenPlay "emphasizes letting biologists take control of their own data by providing continuous visual feedback together with extremely rapid browsing at every decision point during an analysis," Bouhassira said.
