an Lab | A part of Galaxy
We are the birthplace of Galaxy project
People
This lab was (and is) lucky to have the following fantastic individuals:
Clicking on each bar will take you to publications authored by this person. Mouse over to see GitHub handle (if available).
Publications
Our publication over the years:
Clicking on each box will take to PubMed page for this publication. Mouse over to see the title. Citation data is from https://icite.od.nih.gov/analysis.
Collaborators
Our major collaborators are distributed across the world:
Click on marker to see information about that person.
Projects
We are involved in many large initiatives including:
Galaxy
A platform for data intensive analytics used by thousands of researchers. It is an open-source, web-based platform designed to make complex analyses accessible to anyone regardless of their ability to access powerful infrastructure. Galaxy emphasizes reproducibility and transparency, allowing users to share their complete analysis, including tools, parameters, and data. With its global network of public servers, cloud integration, and a growing library of tools, Galaxy is widely used in fields like biology, climate, chemistry, material sciences and more.
Vertebrate Genome Project
The Vertebrate Genome Project (VGP) is an ambitious global initiative aimed at sequencing high-quality reference genomes for all extant vertebrate species. By producing near error-free genome assemblies, the VGP seeks to enhance our understanding of vertebrate evolution, biodiversity, and conservation. These genomic resources are critical for addressing fundamental biological questions and for applications in medicine, agriculture, and wildlife conservation. The project is part of the broader Earth BioGenome Project, which aims to sequence, catalog, and preserve genomes of all eukaryotic life on Earth.
BRC Analytics
Is our newest project. It is a comprehensive bioinformatics platform developed to streamline the analysis of pathogen, host, and vector data with a particular focus on eukaryotic pathogens (such as Plasmodium for example). It provides researchers with tools and resources to analyze large-scale datasets efficiently, enabling them to derive meaningful insights into biological processes, disease mechanisms, and evolutionary patterns. The platform often integrates various data types, such as genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic data, and offers visualization tools to aid in the interpretation of complex data sets.
AnVIL
AnVIL (Analysis, Visualization, and Informatics Lab-space) is a cloud-based platform designed to support biomedical research by providing scalable computational resources, tools, and secure access to large datasets. Developed by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), AnVIL facilitates the analysis and sharing of genomic and related biomedical data. It integrates widely used tools for data processing, visualization, and collaboration, enabling researchers to work on large datasets without the need for local infrastructure. AnVIL supports reproducible research and aims to accelerate discoveries in genomics, health, and medicine by making data more accessible to the research community.
James Taylor
James Peter Taylor was a pioneering computational biologist and co-creator of the Galaxy Project, a widely-used open-source platform that revolutionized access to bioinformatics tools and workflows. Taylor, alongside Anton Nekrutenko, developed Galaxy to democratize large-scale data analysis in genomics, enabling researchers to perform complex bioinformatics tasks without needing advanced programming skills. His work on Galaxy emphasized accessibility, reproducibility, and transparency, which significantly impacted the fields of genomics, computational biology, and scientific collaboration. Taylor held positions at Emory University and later at Johns Hopkins University, where he continued to innovate in bioinformatics and computational biology until his untimely passing in 2020. His contributions have left a lasting legacy in open science and the global bioinformatics community.
Funding
We are primarily funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Additional funds are provided by the Huck Institutes for the Life Sciences at Penn State.
Location
We are located on campus of the Pennsylvania State University in Wartik Lab 505. We are part of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Huck Institutes for the Life Sciences.