Towards dynamic database infrastructures for mouse genetics

A growing array of biotechnologies is being used to study the genetics of complex biomolecular traits in laboratory mice as models for human disease. Combined analysis of these datasets provides much of the power of the approach of functional genomics but this depends on the ability of databases to exchange data with each other and with analytical software. In the light of these challenges the European Commission has funded a coordination action, CASIMIR, to make recommendations on how this need might be fulfilled. We here report on two pilot projects and distill preliminary recommendations.