WAGER Data Collections & Data Analysis Tools
WAGER, the Western Australian Genetic Epidemiology Resource, is an expanding collection of population-based epidemiological data. This collection consists of data from studies that are being conducted using the WAGER Study Support tools as well as from studies that have been conducted without the benefit of these tools.
Current Studies
The number of studies held within WAGER has been growing steadily since its inception. Our listing of current studies should give you a good idea of the range of data we administer.
Metadata Explorer
Metadata Explorer allows users to explore subsets of records in the WAGER database, by specifying attributes of interest, including biospecimen type, phenotypes, SNPs and demographic information. This enables rapid identification of data fields relevant for a particular research hypothesis.
Many subjects/patients may in fact occur more than once across different studies and even for different diseases. Metadata Explorer allows the rapid identification of data fields relevant for a particular research hypotheses and appropriate research designs through documentation on the longitudinal relationships (in calendar time) between data sets.
To gain access to Metadata Explorer simply fill in a registration application on the WAGER Registration screen. Upon approval by WAGER an email containing your password will be emailed to you.
Analysis Tools
Researchers can use the Data Analysis application to create custom datasets containing a subset of data from one or more study datasets. Users can select data relating to particular SNPs or phenotypes.
A custom dataset can be viewed within WAGER Portal, sent to the user's email address or downloaded to their local computer. The Data Analysis application has interfaces through which a custom dataset can be passed to several external analysis and diagnostic tools for processing:
- Phenotype Diagnostic Tools
- Generate mean, median and IQ range for quantitative measures and tabulate frequencies for qualitative measures.
- Generate histograms of raw and transformed phenotype variables (and test the distribution for departure from Normality).
- Generate scatter plots of raw and transformed phenotype variables.
- Pedigree Data Analysis Tools
- MERLIN is a fast pedigree analysis package, using sparse trees to represent gene flow in pedigrees (Abecasis et al, 2002).
- QTDT is used to conduct analyses using QTDT (Abecasis, Cardon & Cookson 2000).
- UNPHASED is a versatile application for performing genetic association analysis.
- Pedigree Data Diagnostic Tools
- PEDSTATS is a handy tool for quick validation and summary of any pair of pedigree (.ped) and data (.dat) files.
- LDMAX is used for quantifying linkage disequilibrium analyses in pedigrees
Refer to the Accessing WAGER section of this website for details regarding access to the WAGER Data Collections.
