Introducing a new solr search, a REST web service a root symbol word cloud and many other changes.

New solr search allowing for better and more relevant search results. The new search also introduces facetted searching allowing the user to filter down the results by locus type and locus group. For more information view our search help page.

REST web service

A new REST web service is a quick way and easy way of searching and fetching data from our database within a script/program. Users may request results as either XML or JSON making our data easier to parse.For more information view our REST web-service help page.

Root symbol word cloud

The karyotypes image on the front page is replaced by a word cloud of the most common root symbols. Each root symbol links to a search based on that particular root symbol (ie ZNF activates a search for ZNF*).

Application changes

The tool “list search” has been renamed “Symbol checker” and the interface to the application has been revamped for clarity and ease of use. The application itself will work in a similar manner to the original tool. As well as a change in name, the URL has changed from http://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/hgnc_bulkcheck.pl to http://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/symbol_checker. For more information about our new “Symbol checker” visit our Symbol checker help page.

The karyotype image for linking to statistics for a particular chromosome has moved to the “Statistics & Downloads” page to control the statistics shown within the page by filtering the statistics by chromosome.

The “Symbol Report” pages have been changed slightly to make it easier to read the data shown within and to clearly define which data is novel to the HGNC and which are external links to other resources.To learn more about our Symbol reports visit our Symbol report help page

Because we have released our new solr based search, which is more powerful and easier to use, we have retired the “advanced gene search” (i.e http://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/advanced_search.pl). The new solr search should be able to do all that was possible with the old application. If this isn’t so please email us and we shall endevour to add the missing functionality to the solr search. To learn more about our new search visit our search help page.

The site search that was present within the front page has now been incorporated into the search within the mast head of the page. By default the search box will use our solr gene search however you can select the site search by clicking on the drop down box.

URL changes

As mentioned above the URL for the “list search” has changed to http://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/symbol_checker. There are other changes to the URLs within the site which are listed below:

Old name New name Old URL New URL
list search Multi-symbol checker http://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/hgnc_bulkcheck.pl http://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/symbol_checker
Statistics & Downloads Statistics & Downloads http://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/hgnc_stats http://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/statistics
Custom Downloads Custom Downloads http://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/hgnc_downloads http://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/download
HCOP HCOP http://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/hcop.pl http://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/hcop
Feedback Form Feedback Form http://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/hgnc_feedback.pl http://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/feedback
Gene Symbol Request Form Gene symbol request form http://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/hgnc_request.pl http://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/request
Quick Gene Search Gene Search http://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/quick_search.pl http://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/search
Gene Symbol Report Symbol Report http://www.genenames.org/data/hgnc_data.php?hgnc_id=# or https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report?hgnc_id=# https://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/gene_symbol_report?hgnc_id=#

Update to displaying genes annotated on alternate reference loci

We are making a slight change to the way genes annotated on alternate reference loci are displayed within Symbol Reports. The Chromosomal Location field will now display the location plus the term “alternate reference locus” instead of the assembly unit name. For a full description of how we name genes on alternate loci, please see our recent publication “Vive la difference: naming structural variants in the human reference genome.” PMCID: PMC3648363.