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Instruction — Getting Started Guide

Header: Instruction

The Instruction tab is the default landing page after login. It provides a built-in quick-start reference with three sections:

Getting Started

A numbered guide walking you through the core workflow:

  1. Create a Project — Click New Project in the sidebar, enter NCBI accession IDs (e.g., PRJNA288044) and a project name, click Fetch to retrieve SRA run metadata, annotate runs with Sample Name, Group Name, and Treat/Control labels, define contrasts (Reference vs Target), and click Done to save and submit the project for RNA-Seq analysis.
  2. Select a Project — Use the Project dropdown in the sidebar to switch between saved projects. Projects with a - Not ready label are waiting for the RNA-Seq pipeline to complete. Once processing finishes, all visualization tabs become available.
  3. Explore Reports — Navigate the visualization tabs in the top navigation bar.

Report Descriptions

A table summarizing every report and its purpose. Click a report name for full details.

Report Purpose — when to use it
Project Summary Project metadata, contrasts, samples, and downloadable data files
Analysis Overview (Summary) One-glance DEG counts and distributions across all contrasts
PCA QC: check replicate clustering, group separation, and outliers
Box & Violin QC: verify comparable expression distributions per group
Heatmap by Sample QC: sample-to-sample correlation; spot outliers/batch effects
Volcano Headline DE view: which genes changed, how much, how significantly
MA Fold change vs mean expression; check abundance-dependent bias
Bar Up vs down gene counts by functional description
Gene Card Deep-dive one gene across all contrasts and samples
Gene Trend Line plots of gene expression across time-series/dose-response
Contrast Scatter Compare log2FC between two contrasts (concordance/discordance)
Heatmap by Gene Z-score expression patterns; clusters of co-expressed genes
Clustering K-means gene clusters by response profile (time/dose series)
Circos Circular summary of fold change, significance, and enrichment
GO Gene Ontology enrichment (BP, CC, MF) among DEGs
KEGG KEGG pathway enrichment among DEGs
KEGG Pathway Map Interactive pathway diagram with expression overlaid
Enrichment Compare Cross-contrast GO/KEGG enrichment comparison heatmap
PPI Protein-protein interaction network via STRING DB
Co-expression Correlation network from counts (API-free PPI alternative)
Hub Network Rank hub genes and inspect their ego-networks
Venn DEG overlap across 2–4 contrasts
Upset DEG intersections across many (5+) contrasts
Feedback Send bug reports, feature requests, or questions
  • Project — Switch between saved analysis projects
  • Contrast — Select which DESeq2 contrast to display (appears when multiple contrasts exist)
  • Filters — Adjust p-value and log2 fold change thresholds, Top N, filter or highlight genes by ID or description
  • PCA Axes — Select principal components for X and Y axes
  • Appearance — Customize dot size, plot dimensions, colors (Up, Down, Select, Others, Title, BG, Axis), font size/color, and threshold line style/color
  • Presets — One-click styles: Publication, Presentation, Screen, or Reset to defaults
  • New Project — Create a new analysis project from NCBI accession data

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Contact information for Liragen support.