We have constructed a relational database of hemoglobin variants and thalassemia 
mutations, called HbVar, which can be accessed on the web at 
http://globin.cse.psu.edu. Extensive information is recorded for each variant 
and mutation, including a description of the variant and associated pathology, 
hematology, electrophoretic mobility, methods of isolation, stability 
information, ethnic occurrence, structure studies, functional studies, and 
references. The initial information was derived from books by Dr. Titus Huisman 
and colleagues [Huisman et al., 1996, 1997, 1998]. The current database is 
updated regularly with the addition of new data and corrections to previous 
data. Queries can be formulated based on fields in the database. Tables of 
common categories of variants, such as all those involving the alpha1-globin 
gene (HBA1) or all those that result in high oxygen affinity, are maintained by 
automated queries on the database. Users can formulate more precise queries, 
such as identifying "all beta-globin variants associated with instability and 
found in Scottish populations." This new database should be useful for clinical 
diagnosis as well as in fundamental studies of hemoglobin biochemistry, globin 
gene regulation, and human sequence variation at these loci.