“Developing a Data Comparison Tool for Musabase and MGIS Using the BrAPI Interface”

Project Summary:

The Mueller Lab has developed a breeding database for bananas, known as Musabase for the purpose of helping breeders to create new varieties of crops for farmers. To expand their data and knowledge to farmers and breeders worldwide, the Mueller Lab is interested in establishing a data connection and comparator between their database, Musabase and another large banana germplasm database known as Musa Germplasm Information system (or MGIS). MGIS is the most extensive source of banana genetic resources and is actively used by breeders from the southern hemisphere to perform crosses and improve current varieties for smallholder farmers. For this project, I will be assisting in the development of a data comparison tool for Musabase and MGIS Databases using the BrAPI interface. Developing an existing communication between Musabase and MGIS databases would help breeders to gain access information from both websites from a unique interface and be able to compare information between MGIS and Musabase to assess data information quality. My plan is that using the current BrAPI interface, I will create a user-friendly interface for breeders to select and compare imported information from both Musabase and MGIS. In order to accomplish this, I will make a command line for breeders to request imported and retrieve on both sides. Once data is retrieved, I will need to visualize the data for comparison on the user interface of Musabase. The user interface will also be given the option to store information onto its database.

My Experience:

As a high school intern at Boyce Thompson Institute, I am deeply grateful that I was able to partake in this opportunity to enrich myself in plant biology and research. Immersing myself in a research environment enabled me to apply information rather than just absorbing information. My time at BTI also broaden my knowledge of using computational tools to understand and analyze data. This internship was monumental to my decision to pursue the field of biology in college. I would like to thank my mentors, Guillaume Bauchet and Nicolas Morales, for this enriching experience.