NetCrafter is an intuitive platform for constructing functional gene networks using biological ontologies and curated knowledgebases. It enables users to build biologically meaningful networks from either a simple list of genes or from genes combined with omics data - without relying on prior geneโgene interaction data. NetCrafter quantifies shared biological functions among genes using resources such as the Gene Ontology (GO), Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO), Hallmark genesets and Oncogenic Signature collections, allowing users to contextualize their results within well-established functional and disease-related frameworks. >> See details of NetCrafter ontologies This ontology-based scoring enables the creation of networks that reflect functional similarity and highlight key gene clusters (hotspots) related to biological pathways or disease phenotypes. In addition, NetCrafter offers interactive ontology clustering and supports the integration of multiple datasets, making it a powerful tool for exploring gene functions, interpreting omics data, and identifying potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets. | |
Gene networks ![]() |
Ontology clustering ![]() |
The figure illustrates the process of generating networks using Gene Ontology Biological Process (GOBP) terms and Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) terms containing 3 to 300 genes.
For a gene list, the -log(p-value) of each ontology term was calculated using Fisherโs exact test. ๐๐ค(๐บ1,๐บ2) denotes the p-value weighted Tanimoto score.
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Input ontology terms were clustered using the regular Tanimoto index between terms, ๐(๐1,๐2), which measures the overlap in shared genes.
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