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BioCarian: search engine for exploratory searches in heterogeneous biological databases
Nazar Zaki1, Chandana Tennakoon2
1Department of Comp. Science and Software Engineering, College of Info. Technology, United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), Al Ain, PO Box 15551, United Arab Emirates. nzaki@uaeu.ac.ae.
BMC Bioinformatics
|October 4, 2017
Summary
BioCarian is a new search engine for exploring biological databases. It uses semantic web technologies to facilitate complex, exploratory searches across multiple data sources, aiding scientific discovery.
Area of Science:
- Bioinformatics
- Computational Biology
- Data Science
Background:
- Numerous biological databases exist in various formats, hindering data integration and querying.
- Semantic web technologies offer solutions for interconnecting diverse data sources.
- Exploratory searches across multiple biological databases are complex and time-consuming for non-computer scientists.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an efficient and user-friendly search engine for exploratory searches on biological databases.
- To facilitate the integration and querying of heterogeneous biological data sources.
Main Methods:
- Converted heterogeneous tabular biological databases into Resource Description Format (RDF).
- Developed BioCarian, a search engine providing a graphical facet interface for exploring RDF databases.
- Implemented advanced facet features including value ranking and relevance indication.
- Enabled direct SPARQL query execution for advanced users, supporting federated searches.
Main Results:
- BioCarian provides an efficient interface for SPARQL queries over RDF biological databases.
- The advanced facet interface simplifies complex query construction and data exploration.
- Demonstrated the engine's utility by successfully performing an exploratory search on viral integration data.
- The search engine is accessible online at http://www.biocarian.com.
Conclusions:
- A novel search engine, BioCarian, has been developed for exploring RDF biological databases.
- The tool is designed for both novice and advanced users, simplifying complex data exploration.
