Heterogeneous biological network visualization system: Case study in context of medical image data

Abstract

We have developed a system called megNet for integrating and visualizing heterogeneous biological data in order to enable modeling biological phenomena using a systems approach. Herein we describe megNet, including a recently developed user interface for visualizing biological networks in three dimensions and a web user interface for taking input parameters from the user, and an in-house text mining system that utilizes an existing knowledge base. We demonstrate the software with a case study in which we integrate lipidomics data acquired in-house with interaction data from external databases, and then find novel interactions that could possibly explain our previous associations between biological data and medical images. The flexibility of megNet assures that the tool can be applied in diverse applications, from target discovery in medical applications to metabolic engineering in industrial biotechnology. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.