How to Search BioSamples Interactively

This guide explains how to search the BioSamples database using the web interface and the REST API.

Searching BioSamples

You can search BioSamples by providing free text or structured queries. The search bar at the top of the BioSamples page accepts:

Free text (e.g. liver) to return all samples with this word in their metadata.
Attribute:value pairs (e.g. organism:Homo sapiens) to refine results.
Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to combine search terms.
Wildcards (*) for partial matches.

Examples:

liver AND disease
organism:"Homo sapiens" AND tissue:lung
cell* AND NOT cancer

Search

You can also search on specific attributes and filter by accession, dates, or metadata values. Results can be narrowed down further using filters (e.g. by organism, project, or date). Facets are shown on the left side of the BioSamples web interface and can also be used via the REST API.

Tips

Use quotes for exact phrases: "lung cancer"
Use wildcards for partial words: hepat* (matches hepatocyte, hepatitis)
Combine terms for precision.