GDB Human Genome Database

In 1989 the Howard Hughes Medical Institute provided funding to establish a central repository for human genetic mapping data. This project ultimately resulted in the creation of the GDB Human Genome DataBase in September 1990.{{cite journal |last1=Cuticchia |first1=A.Jamie |last2=Fasman |first2=Kenneth H. |last3=Kingsbury |first3=David T. |last4=Robbins |first4=Robert J. |last5=Pearson |first5=Peter L. |title=The GDB TM human genome data base anno 1993 |journal=Nucleic Acids Research |date=1993 |volume=21 |issue=13 |pages=3003–3006 |doi=10.1093/nar/21.13.3003|pmid=8332522 |pmc=309725 }}{{cite journal |last1=Cuticchia |first1=A.J. |title=Future vision of the GDB human genome database |journal=Human Mutation |date=27 Dec 1999 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=62–67 |doi=10.1002/(SICI)1098-1004(200001)15:1<62::AID-HUMU13>3.0.CO;2-R |pmid=10612824|s2cid=25606440 |doi-access=free }} In order to ensure a high degree of quality, records within GDB were subjected to a curation process by human genetics specialists, including the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee.{{cite journal |last1=Letovsky |first1=S. |title=GDB: the Human Genome Database |journal=Nucleic Acids Research |date=1 January 1998 |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=94–99 |doi=10.1093/nar/26.1.94|pmid=9399808 |pmc=147203 |doi-access=free }}

Established under the leadership of Peter Pearson and Dick Lucier,{{cite journal |last1=Pearson |first1=P.L. |title=The genome data base (GDB)--a human gene mapping repository |journal=Nucleic Acids Research |date=25 April 1991 |volume=19 |issue=suppl |pages=2237–2239 |doi=10.1093/nar/19.suppl.2237|pmid=2041809 |pmc=331357 }} GDB received financial support from the US Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. Located at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, GDB became a source of high quality mapping data which were made available both online as well as through numerous printed publications.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} The project was supported internationally by the EU, Japan, and other countries.

The GDB had several directors in its time. Peter Pearson, David T. Kingsbury, Stantley Letovsky, Peter Li, and A. Jamie Cuticchia.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}

Funds from the US Department of Energy that were previously allocated for GDB were transferred in 1998 due to the shift in emphasis in the human genome project.{{cite journal |last1=Bonetta |first1=Laura |title=Sackings leave gene database floundering |journal=Nature |date=November 2001 |volume=414 |issue=6862 |pages=384 |doi=10.1038/35106703|pmid=11719765 |bibcode=2001Natur.414..384B |doi-access=free }} However that same year, A. Jamie Cuticchia obtained funding from Canadian public and private sources to continue the operations of GDB. While the data curation continued to be performed at Johns Hopkins, GDB central operations were moved to The Hospital for Sick Children (HSC) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.{{cite web |title=Human Genome News Vol. 10, No. 1-2, February 1999 |url=https://web.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/publicat/hgn/v10n1/21gdb.shtml |website=web.ornl.gov |accessdate=3 September 2020}} In November 2001, the HSC fired Cuticchia due to a dispute over the GDB website domain name.

In 2003 RTI International became the new host for GDB where it continued to be maintained as a public resource;{{cite journal |last1=Seewald |first1=A.K. |title=Ranking for BioMinT: investigating performance, local search and homonymy recognition |journal=Proceedings of the Symposium on Knowledge Exploration in Life Science Informatics (KELSI 2004) |date=2004 |doi=10.1007/978-3-540-30478-4_10 |citeseerx=10.1.1.117.8840 }} GDB was closed in 2008 after control of the project reverted to Johns Hopkins.{{cite journal |last1=Galperin |first1=M. Y. |last2=Cochrane |first2=G. R. |title=Nucleic Acids Research annual Database Issue and the NAR online Molecular Biology Database Collection in 2009 |journal=Nucleic Acids Research |date=1 January 2009 |volume=37 |issue=Database |pages=D1–D4 |doi=10.1093/nar/gkn942|pmid=19033364 |pmc=2686608 |doi-access=free }}

{{reflist}}

• https://web.archive.org/web/19970605132915/http://www.gdb.org/ archived version of the GDB website (1997)

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Category:Genome databases