PBrowse: a web-based platform for real-time collaborative exploration of genomic data

Genome browsers are widely used for individually exploring various types of genomic data. A handful of genome browsers offer limited tools for collaboration among multiple users. Here, we describe PBrowse, an integrated real-time collaborative genome browser that enables multiple users to simultaneously view and access genomic data, thereby harnessing the wisdom of the crowd. PBrowse is based on the Dalliance genome browser and has a re-designed user and data management system with novel collaborative functionalities, including real-time collaborative view, track comment and an integrated group chat feature. Through the Distributed Annotation Server protocol, PBrowse can easily access a wide range of publicly available genomic data, such as the ENCODE data sets. We argue that PBrowse represents a paradigm shift from using a genome browser as a static data visualization tool to a platform that enables real-time human-human interaction and knowledge exchange in a collaborative setting. PBrowse is available at http://pbrowse.victorchang.edu.au, and its source code is available via an open source BSD 3 license at http://github.com/VCCRI/PBrowse.