Our openly available databases and software tools, the SIB Resources, allow the study of life at different scales to tackle global challenges, such as food security, pollution and pandemics. The stories on this page show examples of their impact for discoveries and innovation.
Scientific impact of the SIB Resources in 2022
14
SIB Resources, incl. 37 databases & tools
13,000
citations in the literature
>10
million users
9,000
mentions in patents
Understanding cattle fertility
To infer if and how genes and their variants functionally affect specific traits, such as diseases or fertility, knowing in which tissue they are most expressed offers precious clues.
Bgee was used to support the hypothesis that a rare mutation of a gene in Angus bulls could lower sperm quality and thus affect their extensive use and economical importance for artificial insemination. Bgee indeed revealed that the gene, in cattle, is most highly expressed in the reproductive system.
Understanding the molecular impact of infections
To grasp the complexities of infection severity or organs affected by a viral infection, zooming in at the molecular level is needed.
ASAP, SWISSREGULON or Bgee contribute to our understanding of: the regulatory response to infection by comparing complete and single cell gene expression profiles before and after infection; how diverse viruses’ targets are (such as in long COVID) by revealing the expression of target genes in various cells and organs; or how the circadian clock affects viruses’ pathogenicity.
SwissLipids or Rhea allow insights into the metabolic dysfunctions induced by viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, or those which put patients at greater risk of developing a severe form of the disease.
Understanding the impact of air pollution
To evaluate diverse properties of molecules, scientists rely on accurate predictions at the atomic scale.
In an analysis of polluted versus clean air samples in the Maldives, SwissADME (part of SwissDrugDesign) was used to estimate the harmful properties of thousands of unknown chemicals. The study showed the importance of studying air composition at the molecular level to assess its effect on health and climate.
Designing therapeutic tools
In-depth information on 3D structures, functions and ligands of proteins, carbohydrates or lipids are crucial to investigate their function in biological processes.
Glyco@Expasy was used to prove the ability of a predicted sugar-binding protein to form a pore (i.e. to ‘punch holes’) in the membrane of cancer cells, thus opening the way to designing therapeutic molecular tools.
Read more
Tracking the mpox (monkeypox) outbreak
Through the analysis and sharing of genomic sequences of pathogens such as bacteria and viruses, their evolution and spread can be unfolded and tracked in real time.
Nextstrain used openly shared data to provide daily updated analysis of thousands of mpox virus genomes, enabling scientists to monitor its spread during the 2022 outbreak.
Finding biological catalysts to remove environmental pollutants
To unlock the potential of enzymes as biological catalysts for a greener environment, reference databases that provide information on how these proteins work are essential.
UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot was used to identify enzymes - biological catalysts - to treat soils contaminated with pollutants like hydrocarbons, a process known as bioremediation.
Read more
Ensuring food security
Strategies to develop agriculturally promising traits, such as resistance to drought or pests, play a key role in ensuring food security. The genetic basis of these traits in hundreds of agronomic species can be inferred using knowledge from a handful of model species thanks to orthology, which relates genes between organisms.
SwissOrthology has been leveraged as a customized database for the needs of the plant biotechnological company BASF to develop agriculturally desirable traits in crops like soybean and wheat.
Reducing chemical waste for a better environment
To unlock the potential of enzymes as biological catalysts for drugs and other desirable chemicals, reference databases that provide information on how these proteins work are essential.
RDEnzyme is a computational tool to predict pathways using enzymes for natural product synthesis. This tool employs knowledge of protein function from UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot as well as annotations from Rhea. By reducing our dependence on toxic, non-biodegradable catalysts, RDEnzyme has the potential to spark a revolution in “green catalysis,” improving not only human health and wellbeing but also the environment.
Read more
Revealing the host-factors that are critical for infection
To examine how hosts become vulnerable to infections, zooming in at the molecular level is needed.
Several high-profile studies used STRING in their data analysis of genome-wide screens, an essential step in identifying ‘weak spots’ in the host’s genome that could facilitate the infection by SARS-CoV-2.
Read more