Step 1: I open the BICAN Rapid Release specimen viewer and get a general overview by scrolling around.

I review the overall BICAN specimen list and get an overview of the available library aliquots and donors.

Step 2: I use filters to reduce the list to only the grant that I’m interested in.

I’m a scientist doing research on non-human primates, particularly chimpanzees, and I closely follow the efforts by the Human and Mammalian Brain Atlas (HMBA) consortium within BICAN.

I filter down to only specimens from Ed Lein’s - UM1MH130981 grant as I know they fit my focus area. I see that 952 specimens are currently available from the grant.

Step 3: I filter further by species & sex.

I’m looking to expand on my current data that is short on female chimpanzee specimens. I set additional filters for species = chimpanzee and sex = female. I see that 6 specimens currently match these criteria.

Step 4: I download the subset specimen metadata & file manifest and review them.

After reviewing the specimen metadata in the Data Catalog, I decide that they suitable for my purpose and download the metadata and file manifest for offline processing.

It includes 32 files for each library aliquot.

I review the documentation that comes with the file manifest and know how to access the fastq files at the archives.

Step 5: I access the fastq files at NeMO archive

Using the provided documentation, I access the fastq files at NeMO archive.