USING XML FOR BIOINFORMATICS: AN INTEGRATED, VISUAL, INTERACTIVE RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT

Visual Genomics, Inc. 1275 Kinnear Rd. Columbus, OH 43212

Life sciences researchers face formidable challenges in accessing and managing the networks of biological information essential to their projects. Resources are distributed across many local and remote sites and databases, and data are in diverse types and formats that are not easily manipulated. The World Wide Web has improved access to data, but content delivered in the HTML format is not well suited for access to underlying information. As a result, researchers download large numbers of web pages that are not easily synthesized into useful knowledge networks. XML (eXtensible Markup Language) was designed to enable the exchange of information using a structured format that improves access to document content and context. Visual Genomics developed Bioinformatic Sequence Markup Language (BSML) as an open standard XML format for delivering genomic data to BSML Browsers as live, reusable documents that integrate underlying bioinformatic content. Public and proprietary databases and applications can deliver BSML in place of HTML to maximize data value. The freely available BSML Browser allows researchers to access BSML data and annotations in a visual and interactive manner. This presentation will employ a scaleable, integrated electronic research environment to demonstrate the value of using XML (BSML) for effective management, analysis, and communication of life sciences research information.