function loadData() {
  treeData = new Collection();
  treeData.add(new RootNode('root','Scientific Projects','projects.html','_top','',''));
  treeData.add(new LinkNode('root','Comp. Vertebrate Sequencing','projects/comp_seq.html','right','',''));
  treeData.add(new LinkNode('root','ENCODE Project','projects/encode/index.cgi','right','',''));
  treeData.add(new LinkNode('root','Mammalian Gene Collection','projects/mgc.html','right','',''));
  //treeData.add(new LinkNode('root','Cancer Genome Anatomy Proj.','projects/cgap.html','right','',''));
  treeData.add(new LinkNode('root','NISC Publications','projects/nisc_publications.html','right','',''));

  // User defined variables:

  // 0 for light background, 1 for dark background
  structureStyle = 0;

  // sets the bgColor of the menu
  backgroundColor = '#FFFFFF';

  // sets the color of the text used in the menu
  textColor = '#000000';

  // sets the color of any text links (usually defined in additional
  //HTML sources)
  linkColor = '#0000AA';

  // sets the active link color (when you click on the link)
  aLinkColor = '#FF0000';

  // sets the visited link color
  vLinkColor = '#880088';

  // give the complete path to a gif or jpeg to use as a background image
  backgroundImage = 'images/secondary/sidenav_bg.gif';

  // the name of the frame that links will load into by default
  defaultTargetFrame = 'right';
  // the URL or path where the OmenTree images are located
  defaultImageURL = 'images/';

  // the default icon image used for links
  defaultLinkIcon = 'img-page-globe.gif';

  // the font used for the menu
  omenTreeFont = 'MS Sans Serif,Times,Arial,Helvetica';

  // its size - don't make it too big!
  omenTreeFontSize = 1;

  // Additional HTML sources:
  prefixHTML = "";
  suffixHTML = "";
}