Delivering Diverse Data to Multiple Audiences: the PharmGKB Model

Delivering Diverse Data to Multiple Audiences: the PharmGKB Model

The Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics Knowledgebase (PharmGKB, www.pharmgkb.org) is charged with catalyzing research for understanding how genetic variation relates to the variation in drug response. The PharmGKB has a mission of providing both primary data and derived knowledge to its users. Primary data consists chiefly of genotype data and phenotype data. The genotype data is collected from large cohorts of study subjects, with a focus on either discovery of important genetic variations or characterization of these variations in populations. The phenotype data is collected from these same cohorts and focuses on measures of drug response at different levels of detail (molecular, cellular, organ, and organism).

Derived knowledge consists chiefly of relationships between genetic variation and drug-related phenotypes. PharmGKB delivers this knowledge in three forms. First, we curate pathways of drug action and metabolism that show how genes...