Introduction to Biomedical Ontologies

The National Center for Biomedical Ontology and the University at Buffalo Department of Philosophy are sponsoring a two-day training event to be held in Buffalo, NY on 12-13 April, 2008. This course is designed to provide a basic introduction to ontology with special reference to applications in the field of biomedical research. It will provide an introductory survey of methods and an overview of current developments and best practices in ontology in the life sciences. No prior knowledge of ontology is presupposed.

Program

Saturday, April 12

• 8:30am Registration and continental breakfast
• 9:00am Introduction: What is an ontology and what is it useful for?
• 10:30am Coffee
• 10:45am Basic Formal Ontology: An upper-level ontology to support scientific research
• 12:15pm Lunch
• 1:00pm Open Biomedical Ontologies (OBO) and the Web Ontology Language (OWL)
• 2:30pm Coffee
• 3:00pm The OBO Relation Ontology
• 4:30pm Close

Sunday, April 13

• 8:30am Continental breakfast
• 9:00am An ontological introduction to biomedicine: Defining organism, function and disease
• 10:30am Coffee
• 10:45am The OBO Foundry: A suite of biomedical ontologies to support reasoning and data integration
• 12:15pm Lunch
• 1:00pm The Gene Ontology (GO) and the Foundational Model of Anatomy (FMA)
• 2:30pm Coffee
• 3:00pm The Infectious Disease Ontology (IDO) and its applications
• 4:30pm Close

For prelimary reading consult [1].

A small charge will be made to participants to cover costs. To register interest in participating please send an email to ontology@buffalo.edu. Discounted room rates will be available at local hotels.

For University at Buffalo students

This course will serve as an upper-level undergraduate or introductory graduate course in the University at Buffalo (PHI 499, PHI 599). UB students can register here.