Informatics

Collecting, processing, retrieving and disseminating our data all rely on the design and implementation of complex informatics systems.  These systems integrate biological data with analytical theories using advanced computer and mathematical tools.

We have built a team of informatics professionals with wide-ranging expertise encompassing image processing and analysis, genomic data analysis, data visualization and 3D graphics, complex statistical analysis, and quantitative data mining. These individuals work closely with our data analysis and information technology professionals and our neuroscience team to both process the data for effective online public presentation and create tools that make the data accessible and useful for the broad scientific community.

As part of our data processing workflow, images are sent through a data pipeline comprising a series of specialized algorithms developed by our team.  At the front-end, images are first subjected to automated assessment using informatics-based methods that determine the areas of the image occupied by tissue and derive numerical metrics describing gene expression data.  Acceptable images then run through a registration or alignment module that assigns spatial coordinates to the actual data—in essence connecting data across tissue sections. Reassembly of anatomic and gene expression data into a three-dimensional context is accomplished by software programs and applications that automatically warp the images into a common anatomic framework.  The three-dimensional spatial mapping enables the creation of unique data analysis and visualization tools that help end users of our online resources more quickly uncover data relevant to their research.

Computational and statistical techniques, analytics tools and algorithmic processes are used to enhance data access in our ALLEN Brain Atlas resources, allowing the end user to perform complex, multi-level searches. The design and implementation of these algorithms transforms the structure and properties of scientific information into values that can be searched, viewed and compared using a variety of different customized applications, such as the Brain Explorer® 3D viewer, the interactive AGEA correlation maps, and the NeuroBlast correlation-based gene search integrated into the ALLEN Mouse Brain Atlas.