Navigating TraceBase

TraceBase can be explored in two general ways:

  • Samples First:  Browsing pages thru TraceBase
  • Data First:  Advanced Search

Both of these methods filter all the data in TraceBase down to what you’re looking for.

Browsing

General exploration and browsing can help you explore the different types of data and studies available on TraceBase.  For example, it is easy to check infusion rates and Fcirc for a tracer without downloading anything from TraceBase.

To begin browsing, select one of the boxes from the homepage, or a Table from the sidebar. TraceBase Homepage

This brings you to a table containing relevant information depending on what you've selected. In the example below, "Studies" was selected. Studies table in TraceBase

Each table can be viewed fullscreen, searched, downloaded, and columns can be added or removed (many tables have some columns hidden by default).  Some items within a table include links to see more information. Selecting the first study opens a new page with more details for that specific study:

Study record in TraceBase

After browsing to a subset samples, the actual data can be viewed by selecting the links for PeakGroups, PeakData, and Fcirc. Clicking these links takes you to an advanced search page that matches what you had previously viewed.

The advanced search page provides a method to rapidly drill down to exactly what you’re looking for, and export what you have found as a downloaded data file.

Advanced search form in TraceBase

First, select an output format (PeakGroups, PeakData, or Fcirc).

Next, filter the sample information.  Note this is filtering from all the data in TraceBase.  In this example, PeakGroup data is filtered for all infusates including "glucose" and tissues including "serum".  This produces a result with 697 PeakGroups.

Click the Search button. This generates an output table with a small set of columns shown. To show hidden columns, click the blue columns button at the top of the table.

To get an overview of what is included, you can click the blue "Stats" button which will open the following box: Summary statistics for advanced search results in TraceBase

This box shows the currently filtered data includes 36 Animals, 36 unique measured compounds, 52 unique samples, etc, in this example. The Stats tab is especially useful for identifying Diets, Ages, Genotypes, Feeding Statuses, or Animal Treatments found within the currently filtered dataset.

Adjust filters and search again, or download the table.

To download the table of whatever you have filtered down into, click the blue download button.  Note that this downloaded table adheres to strict Downloaded Data Formats.