THE ONTOGENESIS NETWORK - A network of excellence to foster the creation, ontogeny and evolution of biological, bioinformatics and medical ontologies

有关生物学和医学的信息存储在世界各地的大量计算机数据库中。但是，由于这些数据没有按照商定的标准定义，因此这些数据库不能相互通信，并且数据本身不能互操作，因此价值有限。正如科学家讨论一个主题时使用技术术语一样，当计算机需要在网络上毫不含糊地相互交流科学信息时，它们必须使用一种标准的“语言”。在计算机科学中，这被称为本体，它是一种以计算机可处理的形式表示我们对特定知识领域的理解的方法。一旦定义了本体，就可以用它来组织和描述数字信息，以一种有利于自动搜索、推理和与其他信息集成的方式。针对许多不同知识领域的本体正在被开发，作为推动“下一代”万维网（称为“语义网”）的一部分。在生物科学中，本体论的发展在遗传学领域比较先进，但在生态学等其他领域还比较落后。同样，医学本体的发展在解剖学等领域非常先进，但在生理学和传染病等其他领域则不那么先进。开发本体是一项困难的工作。它要求逻辑和本体开发方面的专家与具有专业生物学或医学知识的人员以及了解可以使用本体进行数据描述和共享的计算机软件的人员进行协作。通常，这些群体一开始对彼此的世界知之甚少，很难沟通。个体发生网络是一个新成立的组织，由这些独立领域的英国顶尖专家组成，他们来自大学的生物学和计算机科学系、私人公司、研究委员会的中央实验室和欧洲生物信息学研究所。欧洲生物信息学研究所是全球三大生物信息学服务机构之一，保管着人类基因组计划和相关活动产生的大量数据。我们都认识到本体论对未来数字时代信息共享的重要性，并承诺共同努力，以最好的方式促进生物、生物信息学和医学本体论的发展。由于本体论创造是人类活动的一种新形式，我们都在学习如何正确地做到这一点。虽然出色的合作工作导致了此类发展的第一个国际商定标准，但该领域是如此新，仍有许多工作要做。因此，首先，网络合作伙伴将定期聚会，分享他们的专业知识，相互学习，在相互理解中成长，从而提高他们开发和使用本体的能力。然后，他们将履行本体论网络的主要职能，即通过出版物、教程、研讨会、专题讨论会和网络网站分享他们对如何使用本体论最大限度地增强生物医学数据的理解，为英国和国际生物医学界服务。

Information about biology and medicine is stored on a large number of computer databases around the world. However, because these data have not been defined according to agreed standards, these databases cannot communicate with one another, and the data themselves are not interoperable and are therefore of limited value. Just as scientists discussing a subject use technical 'jargon', when computers need to communicate scientific information with one another unambiguously over the Web, they must use a standard 'language'. In computer science, this is known as an ontology, which is a way of representing, in a computer-processable form, our understanding about a particular area of knowledge. Once an ontology has been defined, it can be used to organise and describe digital information in a manner that facilitates automatically searching for it, reasoning over it, and integrating it with other information. Ontologies specific for many different areas of knowledge are being developed as part of the push towards the 'next generation' World Wide Web, called the 'Semantic Web'. In the biological sciences, ontology development is well advanced in the field of genetics, but not in other fields such as ecology. Similarly, medical ontology development is well advanced in areas such as anatomy, but less so in other fields such as physiology and infectious diseases.Developing ontologies is difficult work. It requires those who are expert in logic and ontology development to collaborate with those who have specialist biological or medical knowledge, and with others who understand the computer software that can use ontologies for data description and sharing. Often these groups of people start with very little understanding of one another's worlds, and find it difficult to communicate.The Ontogenesis Network is a newly formed grouping of leading UK experts in these separate fields, drawn from biology and computer science departments in universities, from private companies, from the Research Councils' central laboratories, and from the European Bioinformatics Institute, one of the three global bioinformatics service agencies that host the huge volumes of data derived from the human genome project and related activities. We share a recognition of the importance of ontologies for the future of information sharing in the digital age, and have committed ourselves to work together to promote the development of biological, bioinformatics and medical ontologies in the best possible way. Since ontology creation is a novel form of human activity, we are all learning how to do this properly. While excellent collaborative work has led to the first internationally agreed standards for such developments, the field is so new that much remains to be done. First, therefore, the Network partners will meet together regularly to share their specialist expertise, to learn from one another and to grow in mutual understanding, thereby enhancing their ability to develop and use ontologies. Then they will fulfil the Ontogenesis Network's primary function, which is to serve the biomedical community, both in the UK and internationally, by sharing their understanding of how to use ontologies to enhance biomedical data to the fullest possible extent, through publications, tutorials, seminars, symposia and the Network's web site.