cellosaurus

is a Data Source.

Cellosaurus is a knowledge resource on cell lines providing information on cell lines from vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants, including standardized nomenclature, cross-references to other databases, and information on problematic cell lines.

Domains

biological systems, health

License

CC-BY-4.0

Homepage

cellosaurus

Repository

GitHub

Infores ID

Unknown

FAIRsharing ID

Unknown

Product Summary

Products

From this Resource
ID Name URL Category Format Description
cellosaurus.site Cellosaurus Web Interface www.cellosaurus.org GraphicalInterface http Web interface for searching and explo...
cellosaurus.txt Cellosaurus Text cellosaurus.txt (111.6 MB) Product tsv Complete Cellosaurus data in flat tex...
cellosaurus.xml Cellosaurus XML cellosaurus.xml (605.1 MB) Product xml Cellosaurus data in XML format
cellosaurus.xrefs Cellosaurus Cross-references cellosaurus_xrefs.tsv MappingProduct tsv Cellosaurus cross-references in tab-d...
cellosaurus.rdf Cellosaurus RDF cellosaurus.ttl Product ttl Complete Cellosaurus data in RDF form...
cellosaurus.api.rest Cellosaurus API api.cellosaurus.org ProgrammingInterface RESTful API for programmatic access t...
cellosaurus.api.sparql Cellosaurus SPARQL Endpoint sparql-editor ProgrammingInterface SPARQL endpoint for querying Cellosau...
cellosaurus.clastr CLASTR STR Similarity Search str-search ProcessProduct javascript CLASTR tool for STR similarity search...
From other Resources
ID Name URL Category Format Description
bioteque.embeddings Bioteque Embeddings embeddings Product Network embeddings of the Bioteque gr...

Details

Cellosaurus is a comprehensive knowledge resource on cell lines from vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants. It serves as a reference for cell line information, providing researchers with standardized nomenclature, cross-references to other relevant databases, and detailed information about cell line characteristics, authentication, and potential problems.

As of Release 52 (April 2025), Cellosaurus documents 163,868 cell lines, including 121,295 human, 29,536 mouse, and 3,115 rat cell lines. The database provides extensive information for each cell line entry, including:

  • Standardized nomenclature and aliases
  • Species of origin and cell type
  • Transforming techniques used to establish the cell line
  • Microbiological status (mycoplasma testing)
  • Authentication information (STR profiles, karyotypes)
  • Cross-references to other databases and literature
  • Doubling time and culture conditions
  • Genome sequence data availability
  • Special designations and identifiers (e.g., RRID, CVCL)

A particularly important feature of Cellosaurus is its documentation of problematic (misidentified or contaminated) cell lines, helping researchers avoid using compromised cell lines in their experiments.

The database is recognized as a Global Core Biodata Resource (GCBR), an ELIXIR Core Data Resource, and an IRDiRC Recognized Resource. It is developed and maintained by the CALIPHO group at the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics.

Cellosaurus data is available through a user-friendly web interface, a RESTful API for programmatic access, a SPARQL endpoint for semantic web queries, and downloadable data files in various formats including text, XML, and RDF.

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Created: May 07, 2025 | Last modified: February 20, 2026