Wilmington, DE, 1st March 2016 – The Pistoia Alliance Ontologies Mapping project, which creates guidelines, tools and services for ontologies mapping and management in Life Science Research and Development, has announced the start of its second phase.
Ontologies and controlled vocabularies are becoming increasingly important as life science researchers utilize standardized resources to improve their ability to exploit large amounts of complex data. The first phase of the Ontologies Mapping project successfully delivered the requirements for a mapping tool, a community of interest and guidelines for evaluation of ontologies.
Phase two of the project will see the team encourage adoption of guidelines for best practice, develop a process to evaluate and select at least one ontologies mapping tool and define the requirements for an ontology mapping service for implementation by late 2016. This will enable the Pistoia Alliance to support the practical application of ontologies by the life science research community.
Richard Holland, Executive Director Operations at the Pistoia Alliance, commented: “The Ontologies Mapping project has significant potential for all of our members, whether large multi-national companies, small start-ups, or academic institutions, so we expect its output will be adopted widely. With phase one having been completed successfully, delivering a community of interest, guidelines and tool requirements, I am confident that the second phase will continue to deliver value to the community through encouraging adoption of the guidelines and continuing the development of the mapping tool and services.”
The second phase of the Ontologies Mapping project builds on the success of the Pistoia Alliance’s other ongoing projects, HELM (Hierarchical Editing Language for Macromolecules) and the CSCS Expert Community (Controlled Substances Compliance Services), both of which have seen widespread adoption of their outputs throughout the life sciences industry. The Pistoia Alliance is also developing new projects that include the Chemical Safety Library and the Map of Alliances. In addition, the Pistoia Alliance is running a series of Startup Challenges that encourage startups from around the world to compete for a cash prize and mentorship from Pistoia Alliance members.