This is a test version of Biostars. For the public version, visit https://www.biostars.org.
Access To "Public" Version Of Hgmd For Hobbyist?

Wondering if anyone knows if it's possible for hobbyist to get access to the "Public" version of HGMD for non-commercial research -- or if this is even needed, since it appears a large number of the "Public" HGMD data is in Ensembl.

The application page of the "HGMD User Registration" states ONLY "users from academic institutions/non-profit organizations" -- which at the very least does not appear to include hobbyist.

database
• 328 views • link
updated by Chris Evelo Chris Evelo • written by Blunders • Blunders

Note hoewever that in Ensembl only the genomic positions of the HGMD variants are shown, not even their alleles.

• 0 views • link
written by Bert Overduin Bert Overduin

+1 @Bert Overduin: True, which is among the reasons I'd like to have access to HGMD public version as is. The deep irony is that I'm looking to QA the database as a way of improving my understanding of sequence variation databases; which in turn might lead to a better database.

• 0 views • link
written by Blunders • Blunders

1 answer

I really think that clause is meant to exclude commercial users, not hobbyists which are actually the best academic users there are. After all an "academic interest" means that you do not really profit from knowing and being paid by university thus makes you earlier less academic than more.

• 1 views • link
written by Chris Evelo Chris Evelo

+1 @Chris Evelo: Agree, though this clause on the application page leads me to think they do not: "For legal reasons, only users who give an email address that can be CLEARLY assigned to an academic or non-profit organization will be allowed to register successfully." It's possible this clause is tied to grants, but it's unclear -- I'm basically looking for someone that has been able to apply as a hobbyist, and how they did so.

• 0 views • link
written by Blunders • Blunders

Ohh you are right... I am still thinking about a polite way to describe that clause...

• 0 views • link
written by Chris Evelo Chris Evelo

Many places have similar clauses and every time I have approached them as a hobbyist I've been turned down

• 0 views • link
written by Mndoci • Mndoci

+1 @mndoci: Agree, otherwise I'm guessing that they won't have such a clause in the application. On an unrelated note, I've posted a question targeted at you regarding the use of EC2 for bioinformatics -- feel free to take a look if you've got the time.

• 0 views • link
updated by Ram Ram • written by Blunders • Blunders

Log in to answer this question.

More posts like this