Current biomedical research projects frequently rely on multiple high-throughput data sets. These include genes, proteins, microRNAs or other molecular data. For so-called omics data that are often used, databases containing tissue based profiles have been generated with very high diligence. IMOTA, a comprehensive multi-omics-tissue atlas aims at combining these different sources and providing additional value to researchers. All relevant queries are offered in an intuitive manner. For example all miRNAs, genes and proteins expressed to a high degree in the brain and the heart can be obtained in a few seconds. Likewise, the tissues where a specific miRNA, gene or protein is expressed can be extracted. Even specific combinations of miRNAs and genes can be searched, e.g. highlighting tissues where this miRNA and the target gene are jointly expressed.
To provide such analyses is only possible by integrating the valuable work of many research groups worldwide. As such IMOTA is not meant to replace the existing miRNA, mRNA or protein atlases, but rather to aggregate them and provide additional information. To this end IMOTA currently integrates the human miRNA tissue atlas, human protein atlas, miRTarBase and TargetScanHuman, see also the sources.
