The Library of Integrated Network-Based Cellular Signatures (LINCS) Information FramEwork (LIFE)

摘要

The NIH LINCS program is generating extensive multidimensional datasets including biochemical-, genome-wide transcriptional-, and phenotypic cellular response signatures to a variety of small molecule and genetic perturbations. The LINCS project aims to create a sustainable, widely applicable and readily accessible systems biology knowledge resource to improve our understanding of complex human diseases such as cancer and to make the data and results readily accessible to the scientific community. We have been developing the LINCS Information FramEwork (LIFE) - a specialized knowledge-driven search system for LINCS data. LIFE facilitates searching, exploration, and reporting of diverse LINCS data and signatures. LIFE's architecture and complementary relational database and Semantic Web technologies to store and search diverse data facilitate flexibility of data types and formats and also scalability. A semantic model, the LIFE ontology, leverages LINCS metadata specifications and external ontologies including our recently developed BioAssay Ontology (BAO). The LIFE ontology is used to annotate LINCS assays, results, participating biomolecules and model systems.