Nanoinformatics from the Biomedical Informatics Perspective

Lopez-Campos, Guillermo and Lopez-Alonzo, V and Martin-Sanchez, F. (2010) Nanoinformatics from the Biomedical Informatics Perspective. In: Nanoinformatics 2010, November 3 - 5, 2010, Arlington, VA. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

Along the last two decades the advances and cooperation between computer sciences, biology and medicine have allowed the development of new approaches such as genomic or personalized medicine [1]. Bioinformatics played a key role for the advance of genomic medicine supporting data management and developing new tools and methods to analyze a deluge of heterogeneous data sources. More recently, the advances in nanotechnology and their applications and uses in medicine are shaping the field of nanomedicine. Within this context, the community of users, from nanotechnology researchers to clinicians, will need a sound informatics framework, analogous to the one that is currently available from the bioinformatics discipline. From this perspective, it could be very useful to learn from the experiences accumulated in the development of genomic medicine through the collaboration forged between bioinformatics, medical informatics, molecular biology, and medicine to overcome some of the barriers that appeared along that process. In nanomedicine the collaboration between the different players should start from the very beginning, identifying those informatics tools and methods that will be key for the advance of the discipline. The guidelines for the characterization of nanomaterials, the development of standards for data and experiment annotation, and the development of ontologies for these purposes are issues that should be addressed as early as possible. Therefore, the experience accumulated by the bioinformatics community in the development and adoption of standards such as MIAME and MAGE [2] could represent an example of the type of work to be done. Another challenge consists in the identification of those major bioinformatics resources that although having been designed for their use in genomic medicine, could be adapted for their use within nanoinformatics: • Distributed genome annotation systems such as DAS or Ensembl ; • Database integration systems such as Entrez or SRS; • Gene finding and protein structure prediction programs; • Systems Biology approaches and tools which could useful to model interactions and effects of nanoparticles in living cells and organisms. Another challenge that must be considered is the need to adapt existing medical information systems to be able to deal with these new data sources arising from the nanotechnology field. For example, the new systems that work with nanotechnology-based imaging techniques should be compliant with the DICOM standard, widely used for medical image management [3]. New clinical decision support systems should also be designed to deal with the new available nano-information. Bioinformatics and medical informatics started their collaboration only recently responding to requirements posed by genomic medicine. We should avoid this delay in nanomedicine enabling a close collaboration between bioinformatics and nanoinformatics from now on. This perspective would be compliant with the concept of biomedical informatics, which pursues the efficient management of information at any level of biological organization (atom, molecule, cell, tissue, organ, individual, population) in order to advance in the development of new preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic solutions [4].

Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (Other)
Uncontrolled Keywords: nanomedicine, bioinformatics, nanomaterials characterization,
InterNano Taxonomy: Areas of Application > Medical and Pharmaceutical Industries
Informatics and Standards
Collections: National Nanomanufacturing Network Archive > Conferences and Workshops > Nanoinformatics 2010
Depositing User: Rebecca Reznik-Zellen
Date Deposited: 23 Mar 2011 17:25
Last Modified: 23 Mar 2011 17:25
URI: http://eprints.internano.org/id/eprint/600

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