Welcome to the UCSC Genome Browser website. This site contains the reference sequence and working draft assemblies for a large collection of genomes. It also provides a portal to the ENCODE project.

We encourage you to explore these sequences with our tools. The Genome Browser zooms and scrolls over chromosomes, showing the work of annotators worldwide. The Gene Sorter shows expression, homology and other information on groups of genes that can be related in many ways. Blat quickly maps your sequence to the genome. The Table Browser provides convenient access to the underlying database. VisiGene lets you browse through a large collection of in situ mouse and frog images to examine expression patterns. Genome Graphs allows you to upload and display genome-wide data sets.

The UCSC Genome Browser is developed and maintained by the Genome Bioinformatics Group, a cross-departmental team within the Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering (CBSE) at the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC). If you have feedback or questions concerning the tools or data on this website, feel free to contact us on our public mailing list. To view the results of the Genome Browser users' survey we conducted in May 2007, click here.

To receive announcements of new genome assembly releases, new software features, updates and training seminars by email, subscribe to the genome-announce mailing list.

Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases (GSID) has announced the launch of an HIV Data Browser with clinical and viral sequence data from infected subjects in the VAX004 (North American/European) Phase III clinical trial of the AIDSVAX B/B vaccine. The browser, which is a customized version of the UCSC Genome Browser developed by the UCSC Genome Bioinformatics group and hosted by GSID, provides researchers with searchable demographic and clinical data from volunteers who became HIV infected during the VAX004 trial. Using the browser, viral sequences may be aligned with one another or with reference or consensus sequences.

GSID is making these AIDSVAX data and serological samples available to the HIV research community through an agreement with VaxGen and with funding provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Future releases will include the addition of clinical and viral sequence data from infected subjects in the VAX003 (Thai) Phase III clinical trial of AIDSVAX B/E, and immunogenicity data from infected subjects in both the VAX004 and VAX003 trials. The browser may be expanded to include data from uninfected subjects in both trials as well.

For information on accessing the GSID HIV Data Browser and background on the AIDSVAX clinical trials, visit http://www.gsid.org/index02.html.

15 Apr. 2008 - Introducing the Archaeal Genome Browser Database: We'd like to introduce the Archaeal Genome Browser Database, a visualization tool and an integrated repository for archaeal functional genomics data. Read more.

8 Apr. 2008 - Updated Cow Genome Browser Now Available: The UCSC Genome Bioinformatics Group has released a Genome Browser and Blat server for the Oct. 2007 draft assembly of the Cow genome Bos taurus. Read more.

The sequence and annotation data displayed in the Genome Browser are freely available for any use with the following conditions:

• Genome sequence data use restrictions are noted within the species sections on the Credits page.
• Some annotation tracks contributed by external collaborators contain proprietary data that have specific use restrictions. To check for restrictions associated with a particular genome assembly, review the database/README.txt file in the assembly's downloads directory.

The Genome Browser and Blat software are free for academic, nonprofit, and personal use. A license is required for commercial use. See the Licenses page for more information.

Program-driven use of this software is limited to a maximum of one hit every 15 seconds and no more than 5,000 hits per day.

For assistance with questions or problems regarding the UCSC Genome Browser software, database, genome assemblies, or release cycles, see the FAQ.

• Description of the annotation database
• Data organization and format
• Terminology