Chapter 19 Zebrafish Informatics and the ZFIN Database

The recent increase in the number of research studies using zebrafish to analyze vertebrate development and genetics has led to a significant information access problem. A concerted effort has begun to establish and maintain a centralized database for the zebrafish research community. Because of the dramatic increase in the amount of data and the need for more sophisticated search methods, the Web site information and other zebrafish research information have been integrated into a relational database called the “Zebrafish Information Network” (ZFIN). The ultimate usefulness and usability of the database depend on a careful assessment of the requirements of the users, early and continued testing of prototype interfaces by real users, and analysis of the users' interactive behavior while using the database. The data model is an abstract representational schema that defines the organization of information stored within the database. The chapter describes the data model that underlies the ZFIN database in a detailed document, which provides descriptions of the data categories defined for the database—how data are represented in the database, how data are entered and by whom, and how data are accessed through database queries.