Using the NCBI API requires some familiarity with programming and data analysis. Researchers typically use languages like Python or R to query the API. Below is a basic example of how to use the API to fetch information about a specific gene related to cancer:
import requests
# Define the gene of interest, e.g., BRCA1 gene_name = "BRCA1" url = f"https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/esearch.fcgi?db=gene&term={gene_name}"
# Make the request response = requests.get(url)
# Parse the response if response.status_code == 200: data = response.text print(data) else: print("An error occurred.")
This simple script uses Python to query the NCBI Gene database for information on the BRCA1 gene, which is well-known for its role in breast and ovarian cancer. The returned data includes various attributes of the gene, which researchers can further analyze.
