title: iCanPlot: visual exploration of high-throughput omics data using interactive Canvas plotting.
abstract: Increasing use of high throughput genomic scale assays requires effective visualization and analysis techniques to facilitate data interpretation. Moreover, existing tools often require programming skills, which discourages bench scientists from examining their own data. We have created iCanPlot, a compelling platform for visual data exploration based on the latest technologies. Using the recently adopted HTML5 Canvas element, we have developed a highly interactive tool to visualize tabular data and identify interesting patterns in an intuitive fashion without the need of any specialized computing skills. A module for geneset overlap analysis has been implemented on the Google App Engine platform: when the user selects a region of interest in the plot, the genes in the region are analyzed on the fly. The visualization and analysis are amalgamated for a seamless experience. Further, users can easily upload their data for analysis--which also makes it simple to share the analysis with collaborators. We illustrate the power of iCanPlot by showing an example of how it can be used to interpret histone modifications in the context of gene expression.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America. amit.sinha@childrens.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Amit U
authors.initials: AU
authors.lastname: Sinha
authors.forename: Scott A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Armstrong
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods*; D003196:Computer Graphics; D003201:Computers; D003628:Database Management Systems; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D015870:Gene Expression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D016678:Genome; D023281:Genomics; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D012984:Software; D014584:User-Computer Interface
chemical_list: D006657:Histones