The OpenGWAS website features a databasecomprised of over 200,000,000,000 genetic associations from over 40,000 GWAS (genome-wide association study) summary datasets covering a broad spectrum of human illnesses and traits, which users can navigate via a search function. 

One of the key features of GWAS is that this data can be used as an input source for a number of analytical tools. Through this, for example, researchers can utilise Mendelian Randomisation to provide more reliable evidence about the causes of ill health and potential drug targets to prevent or treat disease. This data is also available to download through the website as an open file format. OpenGWAS is used by thousands of researchers worldwide, from both academic institutions and the pharmaceutical industry. 

Research IT developed the website for the OpenGWAS database which provides access to the VCF (Variant Call Format) files and a summary of GWAS metadata available through the OpenGWAS API.  Research IT also provide System Administrator support to the IEU group’s wide range of servers, virtual machines, Kubernetes cluster and applications, including Puppet configuration management to provide stability and better disaster recovery provision. 

The OpenGWAS website was generated using a Python-based web framework called Django and backed by a MySQL database. The OpenGWAS data is stored in a dedicated could-based cluster and queried using ElasticSearch, with metadata stored in a Neo4j database.