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Oxford University Press (OUP), Bioinformatics, 2(16), p. 184-186

DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/16.2.184

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TAMBIS: Transparent Access to Multiple Bioinformatics Information Sources

Journal article published in 1998 by Baker P Bechhofer S Ng G Jacoby A Paton NW Goble CA Brass A. Stevens R., Robert D. Stevens, Patricia G. Baker, Sean Bechhofer, Gary Ng, Alex Jacoby, Norman W. Paton, Carole A. Goble ORCID, Andy Brass
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

The TAMBIS project aims to provide transparent access to disparate biological databases and analysis tools, enabling users to utilize a wide range of resources with the minimum of effort. A prototype system has been developed that includes a knowledge base of biological terminology (the biological Concept Model), a model of the underlying data sources (the Source Model) and a 'knowledge-driven' user interface. Biological concepts are captured in the knowledge base using a description logic called GRAIL. The Concept Model provides the user with the concepts necessary to construct a wide range of multiple-source queries, and the user interface provides a flexible means of constructing and manipulating those queries. The Source Model provides a description of the underlying sources and mappings between terms used in the sources and terms in the biological Concept Model. The Concept Model and Source Model provide a level of indirection that shields the user from source details, providing a high level of source transparency. Source independent, declarative queries formed from terms in the Concept Model are transformed into a set of source dependent, executable procedures. Query formulation, translation and execution is demonstrated using a working example.