Aim: The International Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Workshop (IHIW) is a long-standing global initiative that promotes collaboration and standardization in the fields of histocompatibility and immunogenetics. The 19th IHIW will be held in Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, from May 19 to 24, 2026. To support data management and sharing across multiple research projects at IHIW, we have been designing a new database platform system.
Methods: A total of 26 research projects spanning “Immunogenetics”, “Antigenicity & Immunogenicity”, and “Bioinformatics” are planned for the 19th IHIW. Participating members are expected to contribute data to these projects, many of whom are clinical professionals unfamiliar with standardized data formatting. To facilitate data contribution and sharing, we designed a database platform.
Results: In this system, a group of users is termed a "Laboratory". Each user belongs to exactly one Laboratory and is assigned a role as either PI or non-PI. Each Laboratory contains at least one PI. The system provides Laboratories with data management features, including importing data from files into the database, viewing data in tables, and selecting/deleting entries. HLA genotype data can be imported from Histoimmunogenetics Markup Language (HML) files, antibody testing data from CSV files generated by One Lambda or Werfen software, and sample metadata from CSV files. HML files are validated against the HML 1.0.1 schema, while antibody CSV files are converted into HLA Antibody Markup Language (HAML) format and validated against the HAML v0.4.4 schema. Invalid files trigger an error message to the user. For data sharing, PI users can link their Laboratory to one or more Projects. Once linked, Laboratory data—including HLA genotypes, antibody data, and metadata—become available for Project import. Project leaders can import, view, and download this data in HML (HLA genotypes), HAML (antibody data), and CSV (metadata) formats.
Conclusion: Implementation of this system is expected to be completed by the end of June 2025, with public release scheduled for July. This database platform will enhance data sharing and collaboration among participants, contributing to the overall success of the 26 projects at the 19th IHIW.
