Use of an innovative meta-data search tool improves variable discovery in a large-p data set like the Simons Simplex Collection (SSC)

The SSC, a large autism data set, includes nearly 6000 phenotype variables. Identifying the variables relevant to a research project can be a challenge. Recent approaches to this problem have focused on developing ontologies, a process that can take years to develop and require the user to invest in learning a new, often complex, categorization scheme before getting started.