search
Search biomedical literature, clinical trials, genetic variants, genes, drugs, and diseases using a unified query language or domain-specific filters. Access data from PubMed/PubTator3, ClinicalTrials.gov, MyVariant.info, and BioThings suite for precise research insights.
Instructions
Search biomedical literature, clinical trials, genetic variants, genes, drugs, and diseases.
⚠️ IMPORTANT: Have you used the 'think' tool first? If not, STOP and use it NOW!
The 'think' tool is REQUIRED for proper research planning and should be your FIRST step.
This tool provides access to biomedical data from PubMed/PubTator3, ClinicalTrials.gov,
MyVariant.info, and the BioThings suite (MyGene.info, MyChem.info, MyDisease.info).
It supports two search modes:
## 1. UNIFIED QUERY LANGUAGE
Use the 'query' parameter with field-based syntax for precise cross-domain searches.
Syntax:
- Basic: "gene:BRAF"
- AND logic: "gene:BRAF AND disease:melanoma"
- OR logic: "gene:PTEN AND (R173 OR Arg173 OR 'position 173')"
- Domain-specific: "trials.condition:melanoma AND trials.phase:3"
Common fields:
- Cross-domain: gene, disease, variant, chemical/drug
- Articles: pmid, title, abstract, journal, author
- Trials: trials.condition, trials.intervention, trials.phase, trials.status
- Variants: variants.hgvs, variants.rsid, variants.significance
Example:
```
await search(
query="gene:BRAF AND disease:melanoma AND trials.phase:3",
max_results_per_domain=20
)
```
## 2. DOMAIN-SPECIFIC SEARCH
Use the 'domain' parameter with specific filters for targeted searches.
Domains:
- "article": Search PubMed/PubTator3 for research articles and preprints ABOUT genes, variants, diseases, or chemicals
- "trial": Search ClinicalTrials.gov for clinical studies
- "variant": Search MyVariant.info for genetic variant DATABASE RECORDS (population frequency, clinical significance, etc.) - NOT for articles about variants!
- "gene": Search MyGene.info for gene information (symbol, name, function, aliases)
- "drug": Search MyChem.info for drug/chemical information (names, formulas, indications)
- "disease": Search MyDisease.info for disease information (names, definitions, synonyms)
- "nci_organization": Search NCI database for cancer centers, hospitals, and research sponsors (requires API key)
- "nci_intervention": Search NCI database for drugs, devices, procedures used in cancer trials (requires API key)
- "nci_biomarker": Search NCI database for biomarkers used in trial eligibility criteria (requires API key)
- "nci_disease": Search NCI controlled vocabulary for cancer conditions and terms (requires API key)
Example:
```
await search(
domain="article",
genes=["BRAF", "NRAS"],
diseases=["melanoma"],
page_size=50
)
```
## DOMAIN SELECTION EXAMPLES:
- To find ARTICLES about BRAF V600E mutation: domain="article", genes=["BRAF"], variants=["V600E"]
- To find VARIANT DATA for BRAF mutations: domain="variant", gene="BRAF"
- To find articles about ERBB2 p.D277Y: domain="article", genes=["ERBB2"], variants=["p.D277Y"]
- Common mistake: Using domain="variant" when you want articles about a variant
## IMPORTANT NOTES:
- For complex research questions, use the separate 'think' tool for systematic analysis
- The tool returns results in OpenAI MCP format: {"results": [{"id", "title", "text", "url"}, ...]}
- Search results do NOT include metadata (per OpenAI MCP specification)
- Use the fetch tool to get detailed metadata for specific records
- Use get_schema=True to explore available search fields
- Use explain_query=True to understand query parsing (unified mode)
- Domain-specific searches use AND logic for multiple values
- For OR logic, use the unified query language
- NEW: Article search keywords support OR with pipe separator: "R173|Arg173|p.R173"
- Remember: domain="article" finds LITERATURE, domain="variant" finds DATABASE RECORDS
## RETURN FORMAT:
All search modes return results in this format:
```json
{
"results": [
{
"id": "unique_identifier",
"title": "Human-readable title",
"text": "Summary or snippet of content",
"url": "Link to full resource"
}
]
}
```Input Schema
TableJSON Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| api_key | No | NCI API key for searching NCI domains (nci_organization, nci_intervention, nci_biomarker, nci_disease). Required for NCI searches. Get a free key at: https://clinicaltrialsapi.cancer.gov/ | |
| call_benefit | No | Brief explanation of why this search is being performed and expected benefit. Helps improve search accuracy and provides context for analytics. Highly recommended for better results. | |
| chemicals | No | ||
| conditions | No | ||
| diseases | No | ||
| distance | No | ||
| domain | No | Domain to search: 'article' for papers/literature ABOUT genes/variants/diseases, 'trial' for clinical studies, 'variant' for genetic variant DATABASE RECORDS, 'gene' for gene information from MyGene.info, 'drug' for drug/chemical information from MyChem.info, 'disease' for disease information from MyDisease.info, 'nci_organization' for NCI cancer centers/sponsors, 'nci_intervention' for NCI drugs/devices/procedures, 'nci_biomarker' for NCI trial eligibility biomarkers, 'nci_disease' for NCI cancer vocabulary, 'fda_adverse' for FDA adverse event reports, 'fda_label' for FDA drug labels, 'fda_device' for FDA device events, 'fda_approval' for FDA drug approvals, 'fda_recall' for FDA drug recalls, 'fda_shortage' for FDA drug shortages | |
| explain_query | No | ||
| genes | No | ||
| get_schema | No | ||
| interventions | No | ||
| keywords | No | ||
| lat | No | ||
| long | No | ||
| max_results_per_domain | No | ||
| page | No | ||
| page_size | No | ||
| phase | No | ||
| query | Yes | ||
| recruiting_status | No | ||
| significance | No | ||
| variants | No |