Anatomy Ontology Workshop

General Information

The National Center for Biomedical Ontology will host a two-day workshop focused on the Ontology of Anatomy. The workshop will take place on September 8-9, 2006 in Seattle.

Aim of the workshop

At the Workshop for the Ontology of Anatomy we want to gather researchers who are actively involved in the development and continued improvements to a particular anatomy, for various organisms. Regardless of organism differences, if we use common methodologies and principles to build our ontologies then, ultimately, this will enable us to tackle the big issue: to recognize homologous anatomical structures of different species.

The main focus of this workshop is to pave the way for interoperability between the anatomical ontologies developed for various organisms (including human) by agreeing on shared methodologies for build our respecting ontology. Its objectives are to develop:

1. a list of relations used within anatomical anatomies, their definitions, and their consistent use within anatomy ontologies (esp part_of);

2. a list of major organizational units of biological organisms at all levels of granular partitions (e.g. biological macromolecule, cell, organ);

3. a representation of developmental stages of organisms, that is, are anatomy and development two separate, or one single integrated ontology? If separate what are the relations between them and how should they be applied;

4. a method that allows automated reasoners to recognize homologous anatomical structures of different species.

Participation

For the usual practical reasons we want to keep the number of people attending small. This workshop is not open for participants who have only passing interest; we want to limit it to those who are in the trenches building these ontologies, since it sharpens the mind to have a tangible problem to be solved. Requests for participation are welcome. Please send a brief statement of your expertise to Fabian Neuhaus.