The free online tool will prove useful for investigating how the human body works at the molecular level when studying various diseases.

Weill Cornell Medicine Qatar (WCM-Q) scientists have unveiled their latest creation – a new intricate, interactive molecular online tool of the human body and its physiological processes.

The interactive visual map tool drew on the analysis and data of thousands of molecules measured in blood, urine and saliva samples from 391 volunteers.

The tool, called Connecting Omics (COmics), can be by used by scientists to explore and discover underlying traits associated with different diseases.

The study, which was published in the Nature Communications journal, was done in collaboration with Hamad Medical Corporation and drew upon 12 years of data from the multiethnic Qatar Metabolomics Study of Diabetes (QMDiab).

“Our idea was to bring together everything we have learned over more than a decade of multiomics research to create a comprehensive molecular model of the human body and its processes,” said Karsten Suhre, senior author and professor of physiology and biophysics at WCM-Q.

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QMDiab is a diabetes case-control study that was carried out on Qatar’s population. Multiple portions of blood, urine and saliva samples were taken from diabetic and non-diabetic volunteers.

The samples were then characterised on 18 different analysis platforms, thus creating a rich dataset including 6,300 individual molecular data points.

This data included genomic (DNA), transcriptome (RNA), proteins and metabolites.

Researchers determined information on genetic variants, DNA methylation sites and gene expression for each of the participants, which enabled researchers to link genetic traits with specific proteins, metabolic processes, and diseases.

They then compiled this data into an online tool called ‘The Molecular Human,’ which provides a comprehensive molecular description of the human body.

 Dr. Anna Halama, assistant professor of research in physiology and biophysics, praised the COmics web tool for integrating extensive data, giving researchers access to numerous pathways and associations with great potential for discovery.

“Our integrative omics approach provides an overview of the interrelationships between different molecular traits and their association with a person’s phenotype – their observable traits, such as their physical appearance, biochemical processes and behaviors,” she said.