# Introduction

## What is MOLGENIS?

MOLGENIS is a modular web application for scientific data. MOLGENIS was born from molecular genetics research (and was called 'molecular genetics information system') but has grown, thanks too many sponsors and contributors, to be used in many scientifc areas such as biobanking, rare disease research, patient registries and even energy research. MOLGENIS provides researchers with user friendly and scalable software infrastructures to capture, exchange, and exploit the large amounts of data that is being produced by scientific organisations all around the world. To get an idea of what the software can do, visit our [MOLGENIS YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiVR-YZFcBQe0i6RUwE9kyg).

![MOLGENIS overview](https://624653815-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-LLUgz0ctDlFMwo2_rIW%2F-M1B5_MLXyQMGRYDh-v-%2F-M1B5cGs3QVroTYOgYkH%2Fmolgenis-overview.png?generation=1582898524451741\&alt=media)

## Why MOLGENIS?

Why should you use MOLGENIS? One of the key features is that it has a completely customizable data system, allowing you to model your data however you need. This creates flexibility that other, more static, database applications often lack. It's web-based, meaning you setup a server, install and configure MOLGENIS, load your data and share it with the world. If your data is ready, setting up a useful online research database application can be done in a few hours. Another key feature is that MOLGENIS is modular, having all kinds of extension modules to store and interact with your data. A good example are interfaces to create R and Python scripts that interact with your data. This enables you to add your own statistical modules to run statistical analysis, or create plots based on your data within the online environment.

MOLGENIS takes away the hassle of storing data, and makes it highly accessible with filters and fast search capabilities. This enables you as a researcher to focus on the data itself.

## Should I use it?

If you are a researcher, a (bio)informatician, a biomedical practitioner, or anyone else who has a lot of (scientific) data on their hands, then MOLGENIS is a software package that will help you in setting up an online database application in no time at all, making your data query-able and allowing you to share your data with collaborators effortlessly. By mastering the MOLGENIS software toolkit you will be able to store, edit, analyse, and share your data faster than ever before.
