OmicsAnalyst: a comprehensive web-based platform for visual analytics of multi-omics data

Data analysis and interpretation remain a critical bottleneck in current multi-omics studies. Here, we introduce OmicsAnalyst, a user-friendly, web-based platform that allows users to perform a wide range of well-established data-driven approaches for multi-omics integration, and visually explore their results in a clear and meaningful manner. To help navigate complex landscapes of multi-omics analysis, these approaches are organized into three visual analytics tracks: (i) the correlation network analysis track, where users choose among univariate and multivariate methods to identify important features and explore their relationships in 2D or 3D networks; (ii) the cluster heatmap analysis track, where users apply several cutting-edge multi-view clustering algorithms and explore their results via interactive heatmaps; and (iii) the dimension reduction analysis track, where users choose among several recent multivariate techniques to reveal global data structures, and explore corresponding scores, loadings and biplots in interactive 3D scatter plots. The three visual analytics tracks are equipped with comprehensive options for parameter customization, view customization and targeted analysis. OmicsAnalyst lowers the access barriers to many well-established methods for multi-omics integration via novel visual analytics. It is freely available at https://www.omicsanalyst.ca.