Richard H. L. Natarajan

The IPD-IMGT/HLA Database, https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ipd/imgt/hla/, contains >43 000 unique alleles from 47 genes recognized by the WHO Nomenclature Committee for Factors of the HLA System. The HLA system, located within the human major histocompatibility complex on chromosome 6, represents the most polymorphic genes in the human genome and is described as hyperpolymorphic. With the rapid growth of HLA sequencing worldwide, traditional approaches for submitting and accessing data have been challenged. To address these challenges, the IPD-IMGT/HLA Database has expanded its infrastructure by developing Application Programming Interfaces, enabling flexible queries via both a web-based interface and programmatic access. A major advancement is the launch of a new HLA Submission Tool, replacing the previous system after 26 years and >28 000 submissions. The updated tool provides a streamlined user experience, extensive data validation, and automated submissions through an application program interface (API). Importantly, it eliminates the burden of duplicate submissions by offering optional brokering to the European Nucleotide Archive on our submitters’ behalf, representing sequences in both databases while ensuring attribution. Together, the new submission tool, submission API, and ENA brokering reduce workload, increase efficiency, and provide ongoing support for the global HLA community.