Using the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) Database


To perform the following excercise and view this instruction page simultaneously, open another web browser page (under the File menu), set them side-by-side and navigate both windows to this page. Use one page to launch the excerise a nd leave the other open to these instructions.


Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM)

OMIM is a database of human genes and genetic disorders developed for the World Wide Web by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This database contains textual information, pictures, reference information as well as links to the NCBI Entrez d atabase of MEDLINE articles and sequence information.

In this excercise you will how learn to search the OMIM database and retrieve information about a specific disease, Marfan's Syndrome.

  1. Link to the OMIM Home Page (http://www3.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/Omim/). Read the page and familiarize yourself with its contents.

  2. Under "Browsing OMIM" select "Search the OMIM Database". In the search field enter "Marfan" and click the Submit Sea rch button.

  3. The next page will list approximately 50 OMIM entries which contain the word "Marfan". Note that each entry has a specific identifying number and that each item is hyperlinked to the appropriate entry page. Also note that s ome entries are marked with an asterix (*) or an a number sign (#). Go back to the OMIM Home Page for a link to an explanation of the OMI M numbering system

  4. Click on the first entry (#154700 MARFAN SYNDROME; MFS). This entry, like all entry pages, contains a title (with alternatives), a Table of Contents (with hyperlinks to the appropriate sections), and links (if available) to related entries in other databases. Familiarize yourself with the contents of this page.

  5. Explore the Database Links. For a definition of the database link types click on Database Links. Note that the MEDLINE link calls on NCBI Entrez and returns a number of citations. One can view the citation in various formats, the abstract, and related MEDLINE citations. Some of the Database Links take you to non-NIH database, such as the Cedar-Sinai Medical Genetics Image Archive (click on the Images button to see Marfan's disease related images).

Return to the OMIM Home Page and try searching for information on other diseases or biomolecules (i.e. "collagen" or "osteogenesis imperfecta").



Additional excercises designed to illustrate the use of other databases can be found on the Biomedical Database and Web Excercises page.



Medical Biochemistry / David Daleke / daleked@indiana.edu / Updated 30 Sept 96