Biological data networks and methods therefor

A method for facilitating processing of genomic sequence information in a biological data network including a plurality of biological data units stored at a plurality of network nodes, comprising:

• receiving, at a network node included within the plurality of network nodes, a segment of a genome sequence of an organism;
• comparing the segment of the genome sequence to a reference sequence;
• identifying sequence variants between the segment of the genome sequence and the reference sequence;
• sending, from the network node, a request for information relating to the sequence variants;
• and
• receiving, from another network node included within the plurality of network nodes, the information relating to the sequence variants.

A method for facilitating processing of a disease-related query within a biological data network including a plurality of biological data units stored at a plurality of network nodes, the method comprising:

• receiving, at a first network node of the plurality of network nodes, a query relating to a specified disease and a genomic sequence associated with the query;
• identifying, relative to a control sequence, any variant alleles within the genomic sequence;
• sending information identifying the variant alleles from the first network node to a second network node of the plurality of network nodes;
• and
• receiving, at the first network node, information relating to the variant alleles.

A network-based method for facilitating processing of a disease-related query, the method comprising:

• receiving, at a first network node, a query relating to a specified disease and a genomic sequence associated with the query;
• identifying, relative to a control sequence, any variant alleles within the genomic sequence;
• sending information identifying the variant alleles from the first network node to a second network node;
• receiving, at the first network node, pharmacological response data associated with those of the variant alleles included within genes associated with the specified disease;
• and
• sending a response to the query based upon the pharmacological response data.

A method for facilitating processing of a disease-related query within a biological data network, the method comprising:

• receiving, at a network node, information identifying variant alleles within a genomic sequence associated with a query relating to a specified disease;
• performing, at the network node, a statistical correlation analysis in order to identify those of the variant alleles included within genes associated with the specified disease;
• and
• sending results of the statistical correlation to another network node for further processing.

A method for facilitating the processing of biological data within a network including a plurality of nodes, the method comprising:

• receiving, at a first node of the plurality of nodes, a request to process the biological data;
• performing a first processing operation with respect to at least a DNA-specific layer of the biological data based upon the request;
• and
• sending, to a second node of the plurality of nodes, results of the first processing operation wherein the second node is configured for processing of an RNA-specific layer of the results.

A network node for use within a biological data network comprised of a plurality of biological data units, the network node comprising:

• a network interface;
• an input packet processor in electronic communication with the network interface, the input packet processor being configured to receive a request from a client device;
• a processing module configured to perform a first processing operation with respect to at least one of the biological data units based upon the request and to determine that the processing of the request is complete;
• and
• a transmit controller module in electronic communication with the network interface, the transmit controller module controlling the sending of a response to the client device.

A network node for use within a biological data network comprised of a plurality of biological data units, the network node comprising:

• a network interface;
• an input packet processor in electronic communication with the network interface, the input packet processor being configured to receive an input packet including a segment of a genome sequence of an organism;
• a processing module configured to compare the segment of the genome sequence to a reference sequence and to identify sequence variants between the segment of the genome sequence and the reference sequence;
• and
• a transmit controller module in electronic communication with the network interface, the transmit controller module controlling the sending of a request for information relating to the sequence variants;
• wherein the network interface is configured to receive, from another network node included within the plurality of network nodes, the information relating to the sequence variants.

A network node for use within a biological data network comprised of a plurality of biological data units, the network node comprising:

• a network interface;
• an input packet processor in electronic communication with the network interface, the input packet processor being configured to receive a query relating to a specified disease and a genomic sequence associated with the query;
• a processing module configured to identify, relative to a control sequence, any variant alleles within the genomic sequence;
• and
• a transmit controller module in electronic communication with the network interface, the transmit controller module controlling the sending of information identifying the variant alleles to another network node;
• wherein the network interface is configured to receive, from the another network node, information relating to the variant alleles.

A network node for facilitating processing of a disease-related query, the network node comprising:

• a network interface;
• an input packet processor in electronic communication with the network interface, the input packet processor being configured to receive a query relating to a specified disease and a genomic sequence associated with the query;
• a processing module configured to identify, relative to a control sequence, any variant alleles within the genomic sequence;
• and
• a transmit controller module in electronic communication with the network interface, the transmit controller module controlling the sending of information identifying the variant alleles to another network node and the sending of a response to the query based upon pharmacological response data associated with those of the variant alleles included within genes associated with the specified disease.

A network node for facilitating processing of a disease-related query, the network node comprising:

• a network interface;
• an input packet processor in electronic communication with the network interface, the input packet processor being configured to receive information identifying variant alleles within a genomic sequence associated with a query relating to a specified disease;
• a processing module configured to perform a statistical correlation analysis in order to identify those of the variant alleles included within genes associated with the specified disease;
• and
• a transmit controller module in electronic communication with the network interface, the transmit controller module controlling the sending of results of the statistical correlation to another network node for further processing.