FASPAD:: fast signaling pathway detection

FASPAD is a user-friendly tool that detects candidates for linear signaling pathways in protein interaction networks based on an approach by Scott et al. ( Journal of Computational Biology, 2006). Using recent algorithmic insights, it can solve the underlying NP-hard problem quite fast: for protein networks of typical size ( several thousand nodes), pathway candidates of length up to 13 proteins can be found within seconds and with a 99.9% probability of optimality. FASPAD graphically displays all candidates that are found; for evaluation and comparison purposes, an overlay of several candidates and the surrounding network context can also be shown.