Gene Updater: A Streamlit web tool that autocorrects and updates for Excel misidentified gene names

Background: Opening and processing gene expression data files in Excel runs into the inadvertent risk of converting gene names to dates. A plausible solution is to update these genes and dates to the new approved gene names as recommended by the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC). Results We found that molecular pathways related to cell division, exocytosis, cilium assembly, protein ubiquitination and nitric oxide biosynthesis are most affected by this Excel auto-conversion. To circumvent this issue, we developed a web tool, Gene Updater, with Streamlit that can convert old gene names and dates back into the new gene names recommended by HGNC. The running instance of the web tool is accessible at: https://share.streamlit.io/kuanrongchan/date-to-gene-converter/main/date_gene_tool.py Conclusions Gene Updater can convert old gene names and dates back into the updated gene names, which are more resilient to Excel auto-conversion. We envision this tool to facilitate the sharing of gene expression datasets across multiple analytics platforms.