The Environmental Metabolomics Information System (EMIS) will provide an online capability for recording and sharing information about metabolites discovered in samples of plants and soil via the Shimadzu GC-MS instrument. The EMIS will assist in moving from a largely paper-based and manual system to a more up-to-date, computerised approach for the recording, summation, enquiry, and management of the plant and soil metabolome data collected. This will enable handling greater data volumes, centralising all experiment data in one place, and greatly improving the ability to search the entire set of historical data and perform detailed analysis.
Collection descriptions will be fed to Research Data Australia as part of the University of Sydney’s ANDS-funded “Seeding the Commons” activities scheduled for 2011.
The EMIS will increase the productivity of researchers through less manual effort, and enable access to the public and other researchers, consequently improving collaboration.
The system is being developed by Intersect for the University of Sydney as part of the eResearch program, funded through the ICT Tools and Frameworks for Research Collaboration.