HbVar (http://globin.cse.psu.edu/globin/hbvar/) is a relational database 
developed by a multi-center academic effort to provide up-to-date and high 
quality information on the genomic sequence changes leading to hemoglobin 
variants and all types of thalassemia and hemoglobinopathies. Extensive 
information is recorded for each variant and mutation, including sequence 
alterations, biochemical and hematological effects, associated pathology, ethnic 
occurrence and references. In addition to the regular updates to entries, we 
report two significant advances: (i) The frequencies for a large number of 
mutations causing beta-thalassemia in at-risk populations have been extracted 
from the published literature and made available for the user to query upon. 
(ii) HbVar has been linked with the GALA (Genome Alignment and Annotation 
database, available at http://globin.cse.psu.edu/gala/) so that users can 
combine information on hemoglobin variants and thalassemia mutations with a wide 
spectrum of genomic data. It also expands the capacity to view and analyze the 
data, using tools within GALA and the University of California at Santa Cruz 
(UCSC) Genome Browser.