Nextnet Explorer

Nextnet Explorer is a connected search engine for life sciences research that presents results as interactive, visual brainstorming maps or ranked lists. It is built on a semantic web that unifies biomedical data from sources including ChEMBL, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Ensembl, and is designed for individuals, biotech startups, academic researchers, and pharma and enterprise teams who need to navigate complex, interconnected scientific data.

Explorer enables users to discover relationships across literature, genes, drugs, targets, pathways, diseases, institutions, and authors within a single platform, reducing the need to switch between multiple tools. Each data node in the system represents an object, and the links between nodes represent data relationships, supporting link-based analysis and relational discovery.

Search and Visualization Modes

• Map View presents search results as an interactive, collaborative brainstorming map, allowing users to visualize connections between topics across the semantic web of science and discover relationships at a glance.
• List View presents results in a card-based format ranked by relevance, similar to a conventional search engine layout, for users who prefer a more familiar browsing experience.
• Users can switch between Map and List views at any time depending on their preferred method of analysis.

Connected Data Entities

• Supports exploration of relationships across literature, genes, drugs, targets, pathways, diseases, research institutions, and authors.
• Results are ranked by search relevance to help users identify the most pertinent findings.
• Additional data node types planned for future release include patents, clinical trials, and research grants.

Data Entity Cards

• Each node or relationship can be opened as a detailed data entity card displaying relevant properties.
• Users can filter results to find similar entities that share common properties.
• Cards surface similar and recommended entities beyond the node's direct connections.
• Metadata associated with data source creation and updates is accessible within each card.
• Nodes are color-coded and icon-labeled to distinguish data types; hovering over a node shows an At-a-Glance Card preview, and clicking opens a full Data Card in a side panel with multiple sub-tabs.

Generative AI Integration

• An AI Overview feature provides high-level summaries and rankings of key concepts surfaced by Explorer, helping users assess relevance before exploring further.
• GenAI augmentation can expand on search results to open new navigation routes and surface additional insights.
• Future integration with Nextnet Copilot sessions is planned, allowing users to explore connections between concepts identified during AI-assisted research.

Upcoming Features (2025 Roadmap)

• Real-time collaborative comments directly on the Map View, enabling multi-user collaboration within a shared workspace.
• Research Article Reader for reading and annotating scientific papers within the application.
• Expanded Node Exploration supporting broad semantic web searches by expanding nodes to second, third, or higher-degree connections.
• Advanced Filtering Options including Temporal Analysis, which allows users to explore patterns over time and trace event sequences interactively.
• Common Property Finder to identify shared properties between nodes, supporting pattern recognition, trend analysis, and hypothesis generation across large datasets.

Ontology and Data Infrastructure

• Explorer is built on a structured ontology that maps scientific and commercial concepts — including diseases, genes, proteins, research articles, and institutions — to a shared semantic vocabulary.
• This ontology standardizes semantics across disparate data sources, enabling unified search and AI-powered analysis.
• The underlying knowledge graph (referred to as a knowledge map within the platform) structures data connections to support relational discovery and deeper analysis.

Nextnet Explorer is available under Free and Starter subscription plans, with options also available for teams in biotech, academia, and pharma and enterprise contexts. A demo is available for users who want a closer look at the platform's capabilities before signing up.