Challenge session speakers: Engaging today´s genomics resources

Advances in next-generation sequencing platforms have reshaped the landscape of genomic and epigenomic research. Large consortiums such as the ENCyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE), the Roadmap Epigenomics project and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) have generated tens of thousands of sequencing-based genome-wide data-sets, creating a reference and resource for the scientific community. Small groups of researchers are now able to rapidly obtain huge volumes of genomic data and are in great need of putting their own data in the context of the consortium data for comparison. These data are often accompanied by rich metadata describing the sample and experiment, critical for their interpretation. Fast evolving technologies, such as those interrogating long-range chromatin interactions, are generating new types of data in similarly large volumes. Visualizing, navigating, and interpreting such data in a meaningful way is a daunting challenge. In this presentation I will discuss the present challenges in genomic data visualization and the rapid evolution of Genome Browsers.