Virology.ca Our goals

Virology.ca:  What we’re trying to do…

• Provide databases of viral genomic information.
  • Please check the Organisms menu to see which viruses we support: we’re focusing on large DNA viruses
  • The VOCs (Virus Orthologous Clusters) database is at the heart of our system.
  • The database links directly to integrated tools for comparative analyses.
  • VOCs sorts genes into ortholog clusters (e.g. RNA polymerase) to simplify data retrieval.
• Provide easy access to the genes, gene families, and genomes of the different virus families.
  • via a unique series of powerful Java tools that support multiple computer platforms (see VBRC Tools menu).
  • design and build software to tackle specific bioinformatics/virology problems, often in collaboration with virologists.
• Rally the research community to provide expert curation of these viral genomes by:
  • Adding value to GenBank sequences through enhancing and updating genome annotations
  • Linking to research reviews/papers for the research community.
  • Engaging the research community in collaborations to build shared informational resources:
    • Connotea community reference system; the VBRC group. (test site only)
  • Linking to on-line resources to give general background information.
• Collaborate with researchers to help on specific bioinformatics problems, e.g.
  • Custom searches of the databases
  • Building new features into our tools
  • Help with genome annotation