Have you tested IVART Online?
The In Vitro Analysis and Reporting Tool (IVART) is an online application for standardized analysis of in vitro drug susceptibility data, allowing large data sets to be analysed within minutes. IVART is designed to reduce manual steps and eliminate parameters and subjective decisions set by the user during the analysis. It is able to prepare reproducible estimates for the generation of IC50 which can then be compared between different users and laboratories. In addition it enables researchers to use in vitro data more uniformly to validate molecular markers of resistance and interpret treatment failure in clinical trials.
"In Vietnam, in vitro efficacy monitoring of antimalarial drugs has been ongoing in several sentinel sites; however, different methods of analysis have been used. We have to take this into account when comparing IC50 values from different areas and over time. In the future we hope to standardize the analysis method with IVART in order to have comparable results at national and regional levels." Dr Annette Erhart, Researcher, Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.
In March 2013 WWARN launched the IVART Online beta version allowing investigators to analyse their data through a web-based tool. Many laboratories are already supporting the beta testing programme, but we are eager to continue to collect as much feedback as possible to update future versions.
“I find IVART Online excellent for data analysis. The IVART Online site has a good interface and it took me less than one hour to do the first analysis. It is a very valuable tool that WWARN is offering to the community and we should indeed recommend its usage to our in vitro testing platforms."Dr Xavier Ding, Research Scientist - Drug Discovery, Medicines for Malaria Venture, Geneva, Switzerland
The data sets are usually comprised of IC50 determinations on many isolates treated with several different drugs. So far investigators testing IVART are managing to prepare their data and complete their first analyses on datasets in up to 3 hours, with the help of the tutorial and the Step-by-Step User Guide. We want to know: is this also your experience?
Most users have chosen to use the IVART data template to prepare their data prior to analysis. The template allows you to simply copy and paste your data into a template, along with a description of the drugs and concentrations. This is an easy way to get started with a small study, but if you have large data sets that are already organised in the 96-well plate format in an excel file, tagging the data yourself is generally more efficient and avoids many manual data handling steps. Send us your suggestions and ideas as to how we could optimise the data preparation process to better accommodate your data sets.
Uploading and analysis of large data sets could take a few minutes or sometimes longer if you have a slow internet connection. If you experience long delays for uploading or analysing data, please let us know so we explore ways to speed up the process.
We developed and tested IVART using a variety of different data sets contributed by WWARN collaborators. A recently released paper[1] describes the data management process in detail and highlights a small subset of data that presents analytical challenges.
In collaboration with the team who created the ICEstimator, based at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM UMR-S 738), and in vitro labs, we aim to improve IVART further so that it can handle and categorise all types of data. Results are expected in early 2014. If you would like to participate in the evaluation of current and future versions of IVART with your ex vivo data set, please contact us.
This update was written by Sabina Dahlström Otienoburu, WWARN In Vitro Coordinator and Charles Woodrow, WWARN Scientific Advisor.
[1] Woodrow C, Dahlström S, Cooksey R. et al. High-throughput analysis of antimalarial susceptibility data by the WWARN In Vitro Analysis and Reporting Tool [IVART]. Antimicrob Agents Chemother July 2013; doi:10.1128/AAC.02350-12.