Abstract

The value of any kind of data is greatly enhanced when it exists in a form that allows it to be integrated with other data. One approach to integration is through the annotation of multiple bodies of data using common controlled vocabularies or 'ontologies'. Unfortunately, the very success of this approach has led to a proliferation of ontologies, which itself creates obstacles to integration. The Open Biomedical Ontologies (OBO) consortium is pursuing a strategy to overcome this problem. Existing OBO ontologies, including the Gene Ontology, are undergoing coordinated reform, and new ontologies are being created on the basis of an evolving set of shared principles governing ontology development. The result is an expanding family of ontologies designed to be interoperable and logically well formed and to incorporate accurate representations of biological reality. We describe this OBO Foundry initiative and provide guidelines for those who might wish to become involved.

1. Department of Philosophy and New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, University at Buffalo, 701 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, New York 14203, USA.
2. Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EH, UK.
3. Department of Biological Structure, Box 357420, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
4. Department of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, 1 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, Scotland, UK.
5. Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, 2900 Queen Lane, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19129, USA.
6. Department of Psychiatry and New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, University at Buffalo, 701 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, New York 14203, USA.
7. Department of Oral Biology and New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, University at Buffalo, 701 Ellicott Street, Buffalo, New York 14203, USA.
8. Eccles Institute of Human Genetics, University of Utah, 15 North 2030 East, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, USA.
9. European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SD, UK.
10. Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
11. http://obi.sourceforge.net/community/index.php.
12. Department of Chemistry, Bowling Green State University, 212 Physical Sciences Laboratory Building, 1001 East Wooster Street, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403, USA.
13. Science Commons, c/o Massachusetts Institute of Technology Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Building 32-386D, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
14. Department of Pathology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, Texas 75390 USA.
15. Stanford Medical Informatics, Stanford University School of Medicine, 251 Campus Drive, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
16. Center for Bioinformatics and Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 423 Guardian Drive, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.

Correspondence to: Barry Smith¹ e-mail: phismith@buffalo.edu

MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS

These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.

NPG Journals

by Subject Area

• Chemistry

  • Chemistry
  • Drug discovery
  • Biotechnology
  • Materials
  • Methods & Protocols

• Clinical Practice & Research

  • Cancer
  • Cardiovascular medicine
  • Dentistry
  • Endocrinology
  • Gastroenterology & Hepatology
  • Methods & Protocols
  • Pathology & Pathobiology
  • Urology

• Earth & Environment

  • Earth sciences
  • Evolution & Ecology

• Life sciences

  • Biotechnology
  • Cancer
  • Development
  • Drug discovery
  • Evolution & Ecology
  • Genetics
  • Immunology
  • Medical research
  • Methods & Protocols
  • Microbiology
  • Molecular cell biology
  • Neuroscience
  • Pharmacology
  • Systems biology

• Physical sciences

  • Physics
  • Materials

by A - Z Index