Examples of Limitations of Table and Portal Search

Contents:

Table Search

The purpose of this article is to provide examples “failed” search terms in table search as of late 2024, focusing on a MySQL FTS-backed service. In these cases, we know there is a target result we know exists and want to find.

I’m doing table queries here to show my desired results, but in reality, the users would be working on the data portal and only have “search” surfaced to them - they wouldn’t be working with the table directly.

search term	what I was looking for	actual results

search term	what I was looking for	actual results
ipNF	https://www.synapse.org/Synapse:syn51730943/tables/#query/eyJzcWwiOiJTRUxFQ1QgKiBGUk9NIHN5bjUxNzMwOTQzIHdoZXJlIHJlc291cmNlTmFtZSBsaWtlICclaXBuZiUnIiwgImluY2x1ZGVFbnRpdHlFdGFnIjp0cnVlLCAibGltaXQiOjI1fQ	https://www.synapse.org/Synapse:syn51730943/tables/#query/eyJzcWwiOiJTRUxFQ1QgKiBGUk9NIHN5bjUxNzMwOTQzIiwgImFkZGl0aW9uYWxGaWx0ZXJzIjpbeyJjb25jcmV0ZVR5cGUiOiJvcmcuc2FnZWJpb25ldHdvcmtzLnJlcG8ubW9kZWwudGFibGUuVGV4dE1hdGNoZXNRdWVyeUZpbHRlciIsICJzZWFyY2hFeHByZXNzaW9uIjoiaXBuZiJ9XSwgImluY2x1ZGVFbnRpdHlFdGFnIjp0cnVlLCAibGltaXQiOjI1fQ
cagg	https://www.synapse.org/Synapse:syn51730943/tables/#query/eyJzcWwiOiJTRUxFQ1QgKiBGUk9NIHN5bjUxNzMwOTQzIHdoZXJlIHJlc291cmNlTmFtZSBsaWtlICclY2FnZyUnIiwgImluY2x1ZGVFbnRpdHlFdGFnIjp0cnVlLCAibGltaXQiOjI1fQ	https://www.synapse.org/Synapse:syn51730943/tables/#query/eyJzcWwiOiJTRUxFQ1QgKiBGUk9NIHN5bjUxNzMwOTQzIiwgImFkZGl0aW9uYWxGaWx0ZXJzIjpbeyJjb25jcmV0ZVR5cGUiOiJvcmcuc2FnZWJpb25ldHdvcmtzLnJlcG8ubW9kZWwudGFibGUuVGV4dE1hdGNoZXNRdWVyeUZpbHRlciIsICJzZWFyY2hFeHByZXNzaW9uIjoiY2FnZyJ9XSwgImluY2x1ZGVFbnRpdHlFdGFnIjp0cnVlLCAibGltaXQiOjI1fQ
corielle (this is a typo)	https://www.synapse.org/Synapse:syn51730943/tables/#query/eyJzcWwiOiJTRUxFQ1QgKiBGUk9NIHN5bjUxNzMwOTQzIiwgImFkZGl0aW9uYWxGaWx0ZXJzIjpbeyJjb25jcmV0ZVR5cGUiOiJvcmcuc2FnZWJpb25ldHdvcmtzLnJlcG8ubW9kZWwudGFibGUuVGV4dE1hdGNoZXNRdWVyeUZpbHRlciIsICJzZWFyY2hFeHByZXNzaW9uIjoiY29yaWVsbCJ9XSwgImluY2x1ZGVFbnRpdHlFdGFnIjp0cnVlLCAibGltaXQiOjI1fQ	Resource_CellLine_AnimalModel_GeneticReagent_Antibody_Biobank_Devel...
biobank (the summary mentions “biospecimen and xenograft bank”)	Portal - MV Studies (Production)	Portal - MV Studies (Production)
lambda (note, λ also doesn’t work because it’s too short)	Resource_CellLine_AnimalModel_GeneticReagent_Antibody_Biobank_Devel...	Resource_CellLine_AnimalModel_GeneticReagent_Antibody_Biobank_Devel...
90-8 (also tried 90.8)	https://www.synapse.org/Synapse:syn51730943/tables/#query/eyJzcWwiOiJTRUxFQ1QgKiBGUk9NIHN5bjUxNzMwOTQzIHdoZXJlIHJlc291cmNlTmFtZSBsaWtlICclOTAtOCUnIiwgImluY2x1ZGVFbnRpdHlFdGFnIjp0cnVlLCAibGltaXQiOjI1fQ==	https://www.synapse.org/Synapse:syn51730943/tables/#query/eyJzcWwiOiJTRUxFQ1QgKiBGUk9NIHN5bjUxNzMwOTQzIiwgImFkZGl0aW9uYWxGaWx0ZXJzIjpbeyJjb25jcmV0ZVR5cGUiOiJvcmcuc2FnZWJpb25ldHdvcmtzLnJlcG8ubW9kZWwudGFibGUuVGV4dE1hdGNoZXNRdWVyeUZpbHRlciIsICJzZWFyY2hFeHByZXNzaW9uIjoiOTAtOCJ9XSwgImluY2x1ZGVFbnRpdHlFdGFnIjp0cnVlLCAibGltaXQiOjI1fQ==
NF1+/R1947X pigs (technically in the results, but nowhere near the top) or minipigs (no results)	https://www.synapse.org/Synapse:syn51730943/tables/#query/eyJzcWwiOiJTRUxFQ1QgKiBGUk9NIHN5bjUxNzMwOTQzIiwgImFkZGl0aW9uYWxGaWx0ZXJzIjpbeyJjb25jcmV0ZVR5cGUiOiJvcmcuc2FnZWJpb25ldHdvcmtzLnJlcG8ubW9kZWwudGFibGUuVGV4dE1hdGNoZXNRdWVyeUZpbHRlciIsICJzZWFyY2hFeHByZXNzaW9uIjoiTmYxcEFyZzE5NDdtcDEifV0sICJpbmNsdWRlRW50aXR5RXRhZyI6dHJ1ZSwgImxpbWl0IjoyNX0	https://www.synapse.org/Synapse:syn51730943/tables https://www.synapse.org/Synapse:syn51730943/tables/#query/eyJzcWwiOiJTRUxFQ1QgKiBGUk9NIHN5bjUxNzMwOTQzIiwgImFkZGl0aW9uYWxGaWx0ZXJzIjpbeyJjb25jcmV0ZVR5cGUiOiJvcmcuc2FnZWJpb25ldHdvcmtzLnJlcG8ubW9kZWwudGFibGUuVGV4dE1hdGNoZXNRdWVyeUZpbHRlciIsICJzZWFyY2hFeHByZXNzaW9uIjoibWluaXBpZ3MifV0sICJpbmNsdWRlRW50aXR5RXRhZyI6dHJ1ZSwgImxpbWl0IjoyNX0
syn35632706	https://www.synapse.org/Synapse:syn16858331/tables/#query/eyJzcWwiOiJTRUxFQ1QgKiBGUk9NIHN5bjE2ODU4MzMxIHdoZXJlIHByb2plY3RJZCA9ICdzeW4zNTYzMjcwNiciLCAiaW5jbHVkZUVudGl0eUV0YWciOnRydWUsICJsaW1pdCI6MjV9	https://www.synapse.org/Synapse:syn16858331/tables/#query/eyJzcWwiOiJTRUxFQ1QgKiBGUk9NIHN5bjE2ODU4MzMxIiwgImFkZGl0aW9uYWxGaWx0ZXJzIjpbeyJjb25jcmV0ZVR5cGUiOiJvcmcuc2FnZWJpb25ldHdvcmtzLnJlcG8ubW9kZWwudGFibGUuQ29sdW1uU2luZ2xlVmFsdWVRdWVyeUZpbHRlciIsICJ2YWx1ZXMiOlsic3luMzU2MzI3MDYiXSwgImNvbHVtbk5hbWUiOiJpZCIsICJvcGVyYXRvciI6IklOIn1dLCAiaW5jbHVkZUVudGl0eUV0YWciOnRydWUsICJsaW1pdCI6MjV9
whole genome sequencing	Files with assay = whole genome sequencing	Open

Portal Search

Scenario 1: Multi-Keyword Search Fails to Combine Facets

Example: I want to find an MRI study funded by NTAP, so I type in “NTAP MRI”. 

Result - 104 results appear to be MRI related or NTAP related but not a combination of both 

I try again and now add “NTAP + MRI” thinking maybe a boolean search would work. 

Result - 104 results appear again.  Adding + does not appear to make a difference. 

“NTAP AND MRI” 

Result - 283 results appear, addition of “AND” appears to hurt the search filtering results

Scenario 2: Single-Term Search Returns Irrelevant Results

Next I try to only search using “NTAP” 

Result - My expectation is only studies funded by NTAP should appear.  98 results appear. The majority are NTAP but 2 CTF studies are listed and it is unclear why.  

Scenario 3: Including Generic Terms Reduces Search Precision

I want to search for kinomics data, so I type in the words “kinomics data”.  

Result - 268 results appear.  Since I used the additional word “data” this causes irrelevant results to appear.  Instead, the recommended search would be to use only “kinomics”. Removing the word “data” results in 3 results, which is more reasonable.  

Scenario 4: Project title search does not work unless quotes added

I want to search for a project “Genetic studies of neurofibromatosis”

Result - still not listed as a candidate

Tried capitalization “Genetic Studies of Neurofibromatosis”

Results - still not listed as a candidate

Tried adding quotes: "Genetic Studies of Neurofibromatosis"

Results - successfully found