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eNanoMapper: harnessing ontologies to enable data integration for nanomaterial risk assessment
Janna Hastings1, Nina Jeliazkova2, Gareth Owen1
1European Molecular Biology Laboratory - European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Journal of Biomedical Semantics
|March 28, 2015
Summary
The eNanoMapper project developed a computational infrastructure using semantic web standards to manage toxicological data for engineered nanomaterials (ENMs). This ontology and library aim to improve understanding of ENM safety and environmental impact.
Area of Science:
- Nanosafety and Computational Toxicology
- Biomedical and Engineering Sciences
Background:
- Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) offer diverse applications but pose risks to human health and the environment.
- Predicting the toxicological effects of novel ENMs is a significant challenge.
- Existing data management approaches are insufficient for comprehensive ENM safety assessment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a pan-European computational infrastructure for managing ENM toxicological data.
- To create the eNanoMapper ontology based on existing semantic web standards and relevant ontologies.
- To facilitate seamless reuse of external ontology content for ENM safety research.
Main Methods:
- Adoption and extension of existing ontologies to create the eNanoMapper ontology.
- Development of a library to automate the extraction and assembly of ontology subsets.
- Comprehensive survey of domain content and identification of knowledge gaps.
Main Results:
- The eNanoMapper ontology has been developed and is available online.
- An open-source library (slimmer) facilitates the integration of ontology content.
- Key challenges in defining ENM safety entities at the intersection of engineering and life sciences were identified.
Conclusions:
- The eNanoMapper infrastructure provides a foundation for standardized toxicological data management of ENMs.
- The developed ontology and library support a more integrated approach to nanosafety assessment.
- Addressing definitional challenges is crucial for advancing ENM safety research across disciplines.
