The BLUEPRINT Data Analysis Portal

The impact of large and complex epigenomic datasets on biological insights or clinical applications is limited by the lack of accessibility by easy, intuitive, and fast tools. Here, we describe an epigenomics comparative cyber-infrastructure (EPICO), an open-access reference set of libraries to develop comparative epigenomic data portals. Using EPICO, large epigenome projects can make available their rich datasets to the community without requiring specific technical skills. As a first instance of EPICO, we implemented the BLUEPRINT Data Analysis Portal (BDAP). BDAP provides a desktop for the comparative analysis of epigenomes of hematopoietic cell types based on results, such as the position of epigenetic features, from basic analysis pipelines. The BDAP interface facilitates interactive exploration of genomic regions, genes, and pathways in the context of differentiation of hematopoietic lineages. This work represents initial steps toward broadly accessible integrative analysis of epigenomic data across international consortia. EPICO can be accessed at https://github.com/inab, and BDAP can be accessed at http://blueprint-data.bsc.es. [Display omitted] •EPICO infrastructure generates data-mining portals for large epigenomic series•EPICO was used to implement the user-friendly BLUEPRINT Data Analysis Portal (BDAP)•Users can retrieve epigenomic processed data demonstrated with FPR1 and IRF8•Data and plots can be easily downloaded for downstream analysis and publication As part of the International Human Epigenome Consortium, this study introduces EPICO, an epigenomics comparative cyber-infrastructure to develop comparative epigenomic web portals to display large epigenomic datasets. EPICO is used to implement the BLUEPRINT Data Analysis Portal (BDAP) for user-friendly access to BLUEPRINT results. Explore the Cell Press IHEC web portal at http://www.cell.com/consortium/IHEC.