Database Commons

a catalog of worldwide biological databases

The database of Genotypes and Phenotypes (dbGaP) Data Browser (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gap/ddb/) was developed in response to requests from the scientific community for a resource that enable view-only access to summary-level information and individual-level genotype and sequence data associated with phenotypic features maintained in the controlled-access tier of dbGaP. Until now, the dbGaP controlled-access environment required investigators to submit a data access request, wait for Data Access Committee review, download each data set and locally examine them for potentially relevant information. Existing unrestricted-access genomic data browsing resources (e.g. http://evs.gs.washington.edu/EVS/, http://exac.broadinstitute.org/) provide only summary statistics or aggregate allele frequencies. The dbGaP Data Browser serves as a third solution, providing researchers with view-only access to a compilation of individual-level data from general research use (GRU) studies through a simplified controlled-access process. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will continue to improve the Browser in response to user feedback and believes that this tool may decrease unnecessary download requests, while still facilitating responsible genomic data-sharing. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research 2016. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.

The Database of Genotypes and Phenotypes (dbGap, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gap) is a National Institutes of Health-sponsored repository charged to archive, curate and distribute information produced by studies investigating the interaction of genotype and phenotype. Information in dbGaP is organized as a hierarchical structure and includes the accessioned objects, phenotypes (as variables and datasets), various molecular assay data (SNP and Expression Array data, Sequence and Epigenomic marks), analyses and documents. Publicly accessible metadata about submitted studies, summary level data, and documents related to studies can be accessed freely on the dbGaP website. Individual-level data are accessible via Controlled Access application to scientists across the globe.