GENEVA, Switzerland — SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and GeneBio today announced the launch of neXtProt, an on-line knowledge platform on human proteins. This exceptional resource provides life scientists with a broad spectrum of information on all human proteins via an intuitive interface. With already over 51,000 unique visitors since its first Beta release in January of this year, neXtProt is expected to become the central resource for any life scientist who requires high-quality information on human proteins in the context of modern biomedical research.

Proteins are complex molecules vital to every living cell. Some proteins, such as haemoglobin, ensure the transport of oxygen or other substances from the environment to our cells. Others, such as keratins or collagen, ensure the mechanical properties of our tissues. In the form of enzymes, hormones, or antibodies, they catalyze chemical reactions within our bodies, regulate our physiological state, or ensure our defences toward pathogens. All the information necessary for the assembly of proteins inside the cells is contained in our 20,000 genes. Given the essential roles performed by proteins, it is not surprising that any alteration of those genes can be detrimental. Gathering together as much data as possible on human genes and proteins is therefore essential to scientists focusing on human health and disease.

An indispensable tool for scientists coping with increasing amounts of data

SIB and GeneBio’s scientists, software developers and biocurators have been working closely together since 2009 under the leadership of Professor Amos Bairoch, to address one of the major problems faced by life scientists today: making sense of the huge body of human protein-related data in order to facilitate knowledge creation and scientific innovation. Prof. Bairoch says, “Technological advances have allowed life scientists to accumulate enormous amounts of data. It is therefore essential to provide researchers with the tools to fish out knowledge from such an ocean of data. We are building neXtProt to answer such a challenge”.

High-quality content

At the content level, neXtProt aims to be a comprehensive resource on human proteins, including information such as proteins’ function, subcellular location, expression, interactions and role in diseases. Rigorous standards are applied before any data is added to neXtProt, ensuring a commitment to Swiss quality.

neXtProt builds upon the complete human proteins-related information contained in the UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot knowledgebase, to which unique information relative to protein expression and variants has been integrated by the SIB biocurators.

neXtProt provides user-friendly tools to access this unparalleled content. The powerful and intuitive search functionality combined with innovative data representation simplifies data mining. Users can personalise their discoveries of proteins and sets of proteins in context using favourites and tags.

The long-standing team at GeneBio brings the software development expertise and business acumen to this project. Nasri Nahas, CEO of GeneBio, says, “With second-to-none quality data and a set of intuitive features, we believe that neXtProt will enhance scientific discovery and innovation.”

Visit neXtProt at: www.nextprot.org

About SIB

SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics is an academic not-for-profit foundation recognised of public utility. It federates bioinformatics activities throughout Switzerland. Its two-fold mission is to provide worldclass core bioinformatics resources to the national and international life sciences research community in key fields such as genomics, proteomics and systems biology, as well as to lead and coordinate the field of bioinformatics in Switzerland. It has a long-standing tradition of producing state-of-the-art software for the life sciences research community, as well as carefully annotated databases. SIB includes 31 world-class research and service groups, which gather more than 450 researchers, in the fields of proteomics, transcriptomics, genomics, systems biology, structural bioinformatics, evolutionary bioinformatics, modelling, imaging, biophysics, and population genetics in Basel, Berne, Fribourg, Geneva, Lausanne, and Zurich. SIB expertise is widely appreciated and its services are used by Life Sciences researchers worldwide. For more information about SIB, please visit: https://www.isb-sib.ch

About GeneBio

Geneva Bioinformatics (GeneBio) SA is a leading bioinformatics company providing the life science community with world-class software that bridges the gap between information gathering and knowledge generation. Established in 1997, we offer to the market a suite of software platforms and knowledgebases targeted at small molecules screening and protein research. Close ties to academic peers and a thorough network of distribution and strategic partners give us both unfettered access to scientific excellence and recognized market presence so that we may best serve the scientific community. For more information about GeneBio, please visit: www.genebio.com.