# Cohort Browser

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An Apollo license is required to use Cohort Browser on the DNAnexus Platform. Org approval may also be required. [Contact DNAnexus Sales](mailto:sales@dnanexus.com) for more information.
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Cohort Browser is a visualization tool for exploring and filtering structured datasets. It provides an intuitive interface for creating visualizations, defining patient cohorts, and analyzing complex data.

Cohort Browser supports multiple types of datasets:

* **Clinical and phenotypic data** - Patient demographics, clinical measurements, and outcomes
* **Germline variants** - Inherited genetic variations
* **Somatic variants** - Cancer-related genetic changes
* **Gene expressions** - Molecular expression measurements
* **Multi-assay datasets** - Datasets combining multiple assay types or instances of the same assay type

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If you need to perform custom statistical analysis, you can also use [JupyterLab](/user/jupyter-notebooks.md) environments with Spark clusters to query your data programmatically.
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## Prerequisites

You need to [ingest your data](/developer/ingesting-data.md#ingesting-data) before you can access it through a dataset in the Cohort Browser.

## Opening Datasets Using the Cohort Browser

1. In **Projects**, select the project where your dataset is located.
2. Go to the **Manage** tab.
3. Select your dataset.
4. Click **Explore Data**.

![Selecting a dataset to explore](/files/-MMOB7fKcDPq6I55a6zv)

You can also use the Info Panel to view information about the selected dataset, such as its creator or [sponsorship](/getting-started/key-concepts/projects.md#project-sponsorship).

## Getting familiar with Cohort Browser

Depending on your dataset, the Cohort Browser shows the following tabs:

* **Overview** - Clinical data using interactive charts and dashboards
* **Data Preview** - Clinical data in tabular format
* **Assay-specific tabs** - Additional tabs appear based on your dataset content:
  * **Germline Variants** - For datasets containing germline genomic variants
  * **Somatic Variants** - For datasets containing somatic variants and mutations
  * **Gene Expression** - For datasets containing molecular expression data

## Exploring Data in a Dataset

In the Cohort Browser's **Overview** tab, you can [visualize your data using charts](/user/cohort-browser/creating-visualizations.md). These visualizations provide an introduction to the dataset and insights on the clinical data it contains.

![Sample clinical dashboard with multiple tiles and cohorts](/files/AGFfHEYvrEre4p5ycEm6)

When you open a dataset, Cohort Browser automatically creates an empty cohort that includes all records in the dataset. From here, you can add filters to [create specific cohorts](/user/cohort-browser/defining-cohorts.md), [build visualizations](/user/cohort-browser/creating-visualizations.md) to explore your data, and export filtered data for further analysis outside the platform.

## Next Steps

* [**Creating Charts and Dashboards**](/user/cohort-browser/creating-visualizations.md) - Build visualizations and manage dashboard layouts
* [**Defining and Managing Patient Cohorts**](/user/cohort-browser/defining-cohorts.md) - Filter data and create patient groups
* [**Analyzing Germline Genomic Variants**](/user/cohort-browser/analyzing-germline-variants.md) - Work with inherited genetic variations
* [**Analyzing Somatic Variants and Mutations**](/user/cohort-browser/analyzing-somatic-variants.md) - Explore cancer-related genetic changes
* [**Analyzing Gene Expression Data**](/user/cohort-browser/analyzing-gene-expression.md) - Examine molecular expression patterns


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