1. 1 XSPAN: A Cross-Species Anatomy Network MRC, Human Genetics Unit Heriot-Watt University, Dept. of Comp & EE, Albert Burger

2. XSPAN: A Cross-Species Anatomy Network 15 April 2002NeSC: Database Access and Integration (DAI)2 XSPAN Cross-Species Anatomy Network; Joint project between Heriot-Watt University and Edinburgh University; Funded under BBSRC’s e-Science Bioinformatics initiative; Two phases: XSPAN core; XSPAN ontology; To be hosted at MRC HGU, Edinburgh; Datasets: Mouse, Human, Zebrafish, Drosophila, C. elegans;

3. XSPAN: A Cross-Species Anatomy Network 15 April 2002NeSC: Database Access and Integration (DAI)3 MRC Human Genetics Unit: Mouse Atlas Project Iconic Symbolic Space

4. XSPAN: A Cross-Species Anatomy Network 15 April 2002NeSC: Database Access and Integration (DAI)4 Mouse Atlase: Anatomy Browser

5. XSPAN: A Cross-Species Anatomy Network 15 April 2002NeSC: Database Access and Integration (DAI)5 Anatomy Hierarchies A BC Stage i A BC DEFG Stage j

6. XSPAN: A Cross-Species Anatomy Network 15 April 2002NeSC: Database Access and Integration (DAI)6 Anatomy Hierarchies A BC Stage i A BC DEFG Stage j H

7. XSPAN: A Cross-Species Anatomy Network 15 April 2002NeSC: Database Access and Integration (DAI)7 Anatomy Hierarchies A BC Stage i A BC DEFG Stage j H

8. XSPAN: A Cross-Species Anatomy Network 15 April 2002NeSC: Database Access and Integration (DAI)8 EdAMS Software Architecture:

9. XSPAN: A Cross-Species Anatomy Network 15 April 2002NeSC: Database Access and Integration (DAI)9 XSPAN core: Make use of existing datasets; Distributed approach vs central data warehouse approach; Developing a generic XML Schema for embryo anatomy (for interoperability); Graphical User Interfaces and program level access (Web Service?); To include heuristics (as in EdAMS), natural language processing techniques and confirmed and rejected mappings database;

10. XSPAN: A Cross-Species Anatomy Network 15 April 2002NeSC: Database Access and Integration (DAI)10 XSPAN ontology Formalisation of embryo anatomy ontologies; Use of DAML+OIL, OWL, … ; Additional reasoning capabilities (FaCT); To be integrated with XSPAN-core;

11. XSPAN: A Cross-Species Anatomy Network 15 April 2002NeSC: Database Access and Integration (DAI)11 XSPAN Issues Update problem: underlying embryo databases can/will change; XSPAN-ontology to eventually replace XSPAN-core or co-exist? How to make use of XSPAN-core to provide semi- automatic support for the creation of XSPAN- ontology? How to make XSPAN available to maximise interoperability with other bioinformatics resources (not just other ontologies)? What software support can be given to make building XSPAN a community effort?

12. XSPAN: A Cross-Species Anatomy Network 15 April 2002NeSC: Database Access and Integration (DAI)12 XSPAN: People Heriot-Watt Uni. Albert Burger Werner Nutt Patrick Holt Gus Ferguson Kenneth McLeod Aba-Sah Dadzie Rosely Kumoi Edinburgh Uni. Jonathan Bard Bonnie Webber Stuart Aitken …