`lookup_symbol`

Pack: ensembl · Endpoint: https://gateway.pipeworx.io/ensembl/mcp

“What’s the Ensembl ID for [gene symbol]” / “look up [gene] in Ensembl” / “BRCA1 / TP53 / BRAF Ensembl info” / “find gene [symbol] in [species]” — look up a gene by symbol within a species (e.g. species=“human” symbol=“BRCA1”). Returns Ensembl gene ID, chromosomal position, biotype, description. Use to convert HGNC gene symbols to Ensembl IDs for genomics workflows.

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Description
`species`	string	yes	e.g. “human”, “mus_musculus”
`symbol`	string	yes
`expand`	boolean	no

Example call

Arguments

{
  "species": "human",
  "symbol": "BRAF"
}

curl

curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/ensembl/mcp \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"lookup_symbol","arguments":{"species":"human","symbol":"BRAF"}}}'

TypeScript (@pipeworx/sdk)

import { Pipeworx } from '@pipeworx/sdk';
const pipeworx = new Pipeworx();

const result = await pipeworx.call('lookup_symbol', {
  "species": "human",
  "symbol": "BRAF"
});

More examples

{
  "species": "mus_musculus",
  "symbol": "Braf",
  "expand": true
}

Response shape

Field	Type	Description
`id`	string	Stable gene ID
`object_type`	string	Type of object
`species`	string	Species name
`assembly_name`	string	Assembly name
`start`	integer	Start coordinate
`end`	integer	End coordinate
`strand`	integer	Strand
`seq_region_name`	string	Chromosome
`display_name`	string	Display name
`biotype`	string	Biotype
`description`	string	Gene description
`Transcript`	array	Transcripts (if expand=true)

Full JSON Schema

{
  "type": "object",
  "description": "Gene lookup by symbol result",
  "properties": {
    "id": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Stable gene ID"
    },
    "object_type": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Type of object"
    },
    "species": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Species name"
    },
    "assembly_name": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Assembly name"
    },
    "start": {
      "type": "integer",
      "description": "Start coordinate"
    },
    "end": {
      "type": "integer",
      "description": "End coordinate"
    },
    "strand": {
      "type": "integer",
      "description": "Strand"
    },
    "seq_region_name": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Chromosome"
    },
    "display_name": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Display name"
    },
    "biotype": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Biotype"
    },
    "description": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Gene description"
    },
    "Transcript": {
      "type": "array",
      "description": "Transcripts (if expand=true)",
      "items": {
        "type": "object"
      }
    }
  }
}

Connect

Add this to your MCP client config, or use one-click install buttons:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ensembl": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/ensembl/mcp"
    }
  }
}

See Getting Started for client-specific install steps.

lookup_symbol