Diabetes portal adds data, more powerful search tools

The AMP Type 2 Diabetes Knowledge Portal (link is external) online library and discovery engine has greatly expanded data and search capabilities to accelerate the pace of scientific advancement. Customizable and simplified navigation, along with aggregated data from more than 100,000 DNA samples from research supported by NIH and other institutions, encourage new understanding of diabetes by increasing users' ability to share and evaluate content.

A product of NIH's Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP) for type 2 diabetes, the portal—which opened in 2015—enables user-friendly exploration of international networks of human genetic information linked to type 2 diabetes. At present, researchers and the public can search for information by gene, genetic variant and region; access summaries of genetic variants; and run customized genetic analyses using versatile tools. Individual data will remain confidential.

Anyone can now query detailed data from the portal; previously, only approved researchers could access that content, while others could view aggregate results. A Google account is all that is needed to use the portal, which is also available in Spanish. Because the strength of the portal depends on community participation, people are encouraged to submit data, comments and other materials.

Now including data from European collaborators, administrators continue to expand the network to include more national and international content.