Search for Biomedical Data & Resources in Japan

About this site

Sagace is a web-based search engine to discover and retrieve information from biomedical databases in Japan, primarily for biomedial research and drug development. It has been developed and maintained by the NIBIOHN (National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition（NIBIOHN）), in collaboration with the NBDC (National Bioscience Database Center). With its Biological Resources Division and Bioinformatics Research Group, the NIBIOHN, plays a key role in integrating biomedical databases, including its own Open TG-GATEs.

Features of Sagace

Sagace (French sagacious or discerning) is a web- based search engine that performs full-text searches across multiple databases, primarily in Japan and relevant to biomedical research and drug development. The current list of databases that Sagace searches can be found here. For detailed search options, see here. Sagace will be useful for those involved in biomedical research and drug development in both academia and industry, by allowing them to retrieve information from a wide range of databases in Japan.

Sagace offers the following features:

  • 1. Database selection and classification
    From an initial list of databases created in collaboration with the NBDC, we at the NIBIOHN (see below) have selected the databases that are particularly relevant to biomedical research, and classified them so that useful information ranks high on the search results.

  • 2. Refining search results with facets
    Some queries can return a large amount of results and often, the user finds it hard to obtain the desired information. In such a case, clicking on one of the database classification tags on the left menu would narrow down the search results. Combining multiple tags in separate categories will be an effective way of refining the result.

  • 3. More informative search results with metadata Search engines collecting data from various databases can often fail to produce sufficient information about each hit returned. This is because each database page provides only limited descriptions of the database entry and/or it is sometimes difficult to retrieve useful information from each page automatically. Sagace retrieves metadata (e.g., entry ID, taxonomy ID, and database name) in the microdata format from each database entry page, if such data are available. The information derived from the metadata is displayed along with the search results as structured data. Users can also click these structured data to refine their search results. For more information for database developers, refer to this page.

Project members

Sagace has been developed by the following members of NIBIOHN:

FAQ

Q1. What is Sagace?
A1. Sagace is a web-based search engine to discover and retrieve information from biomedical databases in Japan, primarily for biomedial research and drug development. (The French word “sagace” means “sagacious” or "discerning".

Q2. What can I do with Sagace?
A2. Users can performs full-text searches across multiple biomedical databases in Japan. The current list of databases that Sagace searches can be found here.

Q3. Who should use Sagace?
A3. Sagace will be useful for those involved in biomedical research and drug development in both academia and industry.

Q4. Who created it?
A4. Sagace has been developed and maintained by the project members (see above) at the NIBIOHN.

Disclaimer

While we make strong efforts to keep our website accurate, the NIBIOHN cannot guarantee that all the information on this website is always correct, complete, or up-to-date. The NIBIOHN will not be liable for for any damages of any kind arising from use of, reference to, or reliance on any information contained on this website.
To use databases linked from Sagace, please follow the guidelines provided by each database.

Acknowledgements

This project was supported by a collaboration with the NBDC (between 2011-09 and 2015-03). Life Science Dictionary (LSD) is used to add synonyms to a search query. Taxonomy icon developed by Database Center for Life Science (DBCLS) is used to graphically display species (Taxonomy icon © Database Center for Life Science licensed under CC Attribution2.1 Japan).

Contact information

Please contact us for further details using our contact form.