"It was often very difficult, if not impossible, to attribute the data published in a scientific article to a specific sample, because the same sample name was used for different specimens or had changed through the course of the sample's lifetime, and relevant sample metadata were missing in the papers.
The core of the sample metadata is found on labels attached to a collection object, which may be supplemented, in the case of poorly labelled 'historical' specimens, by data from related sources, such as published reports on expeditions and laboratory protocols.
The resulting DNA sequences, OTU table, and associated sample metadata have been deposited in the QIIME database (http://www.microbio.me/qiime/) under the study ID 979 (Song_2012_family_study).
Sample and observation metadata are essential for the interpretation of omics data, and for facilitating future meta-analyses.
These samples and their metadata are then not propagated to the next steps, making it possible to create large-scale, clearly represented experiments containing hundreds of samples in a matter of minutes.
In recognition of its importance, there has recently been a community-driven shift toward a greater degree of sample contextual metadata being archived with study data, which has been largely facilitated by the Genomic Standards Consortium GSCC) [ 28].
The descriptions of studies, subjects, samples, measurements and study related metadata are captured in a relational data model (Fig. 2). Figure 2: ImmPort Data Model.
Experiment, sample, and dataset types and their metadata are customizable and this information can be viewed and edited using either a built-in web interface or the provided API.
