About Us

🌟 Project Introduction

Bizard (BΓ‘i ZΓ©) is an open-source community project dedicated to biomedical data visualization, initiated by researchers Peng Luo, Shixiang Wang, Jianfeng Li, and Jianming Zeng. The name is inspired by the mythical Chinese creature β€œBai Ze,” who was said to know all things and once compiled an illustrated catalog of spirits for the Yellow Emperorβ€”symbolizing comprehensive knowledge and visual expression of information.

We aim to build a collaborative, community-driven open-source platform for biomedical visualization, providing an integrated space for learning, applying, and discussing data visualization, and to establish a distinctive bioinformatics infrastructure both domestically and internationally.

🎯 Our Vision

In the era of data-driven biomedical research, visualization serves as a bridge between data and scientific storytelling. Although many GUI tools and bioinformatics platforms exist, reproducible research remains a key direction for scientific progress. For beginners, the learning curve for programming and plotting is steep, and relevant resources are scattered and difficult to apply.

Bizard aims to address these challenges by:

  • Providing systematic, practical, and reproducible plotting tutorials;
  • Building an open, collaborative, and sustainable community ecosystem;
  • Promoting the use of R, Python, and other languages in biomedical research;
  • Creating a theory-practice integrated learning platform to lower the barrier to entry.

🧬 Key Features

  • πŸ”“ Open Collaboration: All code and docs are openly maintained on GitHub
  • πŸ“˜ Theory + Practice: Each tutorial includes code explanation and biological context
  • 🌍 Community-Driven: Co-created with visualization enthusiasts worldwide
  • πŸ“š Regular Updates: Preprints and continuous content iteration
  • πŸ§‘β€πŸ”¬ Academic Sharing: Contributors are credited based on actual contributions

πŸ› οΈ Technical Approach

  • Language Base: Initially focused on R, with plans to expand to Python and others;
  • Content Source: Based on classic examples such as The R Graph Gallery;
  • Application Scenarios: Uses real biomedical datasets to provide reproducible plotting workflows;
  • Teaching Format: Each case includes code, plot, biological background, and usage tips.

🀝 Community & Collaboration

Bizard collaborates closely with the Openbiox Bioinformatics Open Source Community, and is committed to:

  • Building an open, transparent, and inclusive community culture;
  • Encouraging participation from members with diverse backgrounds;
  • Organizing regular online/offline events to promote knowledge sharing;
  • Establishing a sustainable member-contribution-outcome update mechanism.

πŸ“¬ Join Us

We sincerely invite you to join us if you are interested in:

  • Biomedical data visualization;
  • Open-source collaboration and open science;
  • Tutorial writing and code contribution;
  • Community management and content translation.

Contacts:

  • Peng Luo: luopeng@smu.edu.cn
  • Shixiang Wang: wangshx@csu.edu.cn