ExPASy


ExPASy is a bioinformatics resource portal operated by the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and in particular the SIB Web Team. It is an extensible and integrative portal accessing many scientific resources, databases and software tools in different areas of life sciences. Scientists can access a wide range of resources in many different domains, such as proteomics, genomics, phylogenetics/evolution, systems biology, population genetics, and transcriptomics. The individual resources are hosted in a decentralised way by different groups of the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and partner institutions. Specifically, a single web portal provides a common entry point to a wide range of resources developed and operated by many different SIB groups and external institutions. The portal features a search function across selected resources. Internally, the availability and usage of resources are monitored. The portal is aimed for both expert users and for people who are not familiar with a specific domain in life sciences: in particular, the new web interface provides visual guidance for newcomers to ExPASy.

History

Originally, ExPASy was called ExPASy and acted as a proteomics server to analyze protein sequences and structures and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Among others, ExPASy hosted the protein sequence knowledgebase, UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot, and its computer annotated supplement, UniProtKB/TrEMBL, before these moved to the UniProt website.
ExPASy was the first website of the life sciences.
, ExPASy had been consulted 1 billion times since its installation on 1 August 1993.