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

有关生物和医学的信息存储在世界各地的大量计算机数据库中。然而，由于这些数据没有按照商定的标准进行定义，这些数据库无法相互通信，数据本身也不能互操作，因此价值有限。就像科学家在讨论一个主题时使用技术术语一样，当计算机需要通过网络明确地相互交流科学信息时，他们必须使用标准的“语言”。在计算机科学中，这被称为本体论，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式。一旦定义了本体，就可以使用它来组织和描述数字信息，以便于自动搜索它、对它进行推理并将它与其他信息集成。作为推动下一代万维网的一部分，针对许多不同知识领域的本体论正在开发中，这一万维网被称为“语义网”。在生物科学领域，本体论的发展在遗传学领域是很先进的，但在其他领域，如生态学，则不是很先进。同样，医学本体的开发在解剖学等领域也很先进，但在生理学和传染病等其他领域却不那么先进。开发本体是一项困难的工作。它要求那些擅长逻辑和本体开发的人与那些拥有专业生物学或医学知识的人合作，以及与其他理解计算机软件的人合作，这些计算机软件可以使用本体来描述和共享数据。通常，这些人一开始对彼此的世界了解很少，而且发现很难交流。Ontogensis Network是一个新成立的组织，由这些独立领域的英国领先专家组成，他们来自大学的生物和计算机科学系、私营公司、研究委员会的中央实验室，以及欧洲生物信息学研究所，欧洲生物信息学研究所是三大全球生物信息学服务机构之一，托管着来自人类基因组计划和相关活动的海量数据。我们都认识到本体论对于数字时代信息共享的未来的重要性，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。由于本体创建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。虽然出色的协作工作导致了此类发展的第一个国际商定标准，但该领域是如此之新，仍有许多工作要做。因此，首先，网络合作伙伴将定期举行会议，分享他们的专业知识，相互学习，增进相互了解，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功能，即通过出版物、教程、研讨会、专题讨论会和该网络的网站，分享他们对如何使用本体论来最大限度地增强生物医学数据的理解，从而服务于英国和国际的生物医学界。

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.