SyBLaRS: A web service for laying out, rendering and mining biological maps in SBGN, SBML and more

Visualization is a key recurring requirement for effective analysis of relational data. Biology is no exception. It is imperative to annotate and render biological models in standard, widely accepted formats. Finding graph-theoretical properties of pathways as well as identifying certain paths or subgraphs of interest in a pathway are also essential for effective analysis of pathway data. Given the size of available biological pathway data nowadays, automatic layout is crucial in understanding the graphical representations of such data. Even though there are many available software tools that support graphical display of biological pathways in various formats, there is none available as a service for on-demand or batch processing of biological pathways for automatic layout, customized rendering and mining paths or subgraphs of interest. In addition, there are many tools with fine rendering capabilities lacking decent automatic layout support.