Pathema: A Clade Specific Bioinformatics Resource
Overview
Pathema is a NIAID Bioinformatics Resource Center designed to support bio-defense and infectious disease research. Pathema provides detailed curation of six target pathogens: Bacillus anthracis, Clostridium botulinum, Burkholderia mallei, Burkholderia pseudomallei, Clostridium perfringens and Entamoeba histolytica. Each pathogen is represented in one of four distinct clade-specific Pathema web resources developed to target the data and analysis needs of each scientific community.
Included in these resources is a customized suite of sophisticated bioinformatics software, an extensive library of literature and manually curated data, and comparative analysis tools customized to retrieve, display, and compute results relevant to ongoing bio-defense research. Curated datasets of clade-specific virulence factors, epitopes, and toxins, as well as bioinformatics tools for cross genome comparisons and identification of metabolic pathways were integrated into Pathema to facilitate the identification of potential targets for vaccine development, therapeutics, and diagnostics. Additional utilities include a community annotation tool, experimentally characterized genes list, and community submissions of clade-specific protocols.
The overarching goal of Pathema is to provide core resources that will accelerate scientific progress on understanding, detecting, diagnosing and treating Category A-C pathogens and other pathogens involved in new and re-emerging infectious diseases.
Funding
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID)