Current understanding of genome structure,
composition and activity is undergoing rapid and revolutionary changes
as a result of new methods for genome screening, sequencing and
analysis. The employment of techniques such as tiling arrays and
the increasing adoption of 2nd generation (non-Sanger method) DNA
sequencers has accelerated this process.
New discoveries have also
emerged and changed perceptions of established facts such as previously
accepted views that most of the genome is junk. For example, new
findings that are attributable to unstranslated RNAs and microRNAs
being important in cellular regulatory functions have prompted re-sequencing
and re-analysing of established genomes.
Biological data quantity and complexity are also increasing exponentially.
This has lead to the need for more revolutionary and efficient means
of storing and analysing genetic data. Conventional flat file and
relational database structures have become obsolete or impractical due to
their limitations in scalability and performance.
Synamatix uses a completely novel approach to construct databases
based on a proprietary and patented approach, whereby patterns,
relationships between patterns and their significance are maintained
in a "SynaBASE". All patterns between 1 and x are stored
leading to enhanced sensitivity and specificity. Each pattern is
extended until it becomes unique. Redundant patterns from new data
are not stored, resulting in improvements in database scalability.
The end result is a “Structured Network Pattern Database”
which offers 100s to 10,000s fold improvement in performance without
reverting to incremental investments in hardware. Significant improvements
in sensitivity are also observed due to the exhaustive nature of
SynaBASE.
SynaBASE is the core technology underlying almost all Synamatix
applications. A variety of approaches have been leveraged to enhance
performance across a very wide array of genomic analyses. SynaBASE
is a highly extensible platform. A large number of applications
have been developed based upon internal research as well as in collaboration
with some of the world’s leading genomics and bioinformatics
researchers. Users are encouraged to develop their own applications
on top of SynaBASE.