Online Diagnosis System: a webserver for analysis of Sanger sequencing-based genetic testing data

Sanger sequencing is a well-established molecular technique for diagnosis of genetic diseases. In these tests, DNA sequencers produce vast amounts of data that need to be examined and annotated within a short period of time. To achieve this goal, an online bioinformatics platform that can automate the process is essential. However, to date, there is no such integrated bioinformatics platform available. To fulfill this gap, we developed the Online Diagnosis System (ODS), which is a freely available webserver and supports the commonly used file format of Sanger sequencing data. ODS seamlessly integrates base calling, single nucleotide variation (SNV) identification, and SNV annotation into one single platform. It also allows laboratorians to manually inspect the quality of the identified SNVs in the final report. ODS can significantly reduce the data analysis time therefore allows Sanger sequencing-based genetic testing to be finished in a timely manner. ODS is freely available at http://sunlab.lihs.cuhk.edu.hk/ODS/.