BioModels is a new initiative in open-source biology using Systems Biology Markup Language (SBML). From the BioModels web site: 'For computational modeling to become more widely used in biological research, researchers must be able to exchange and share their results. The development and broad acceptance of common model representation formats such as SBML is a crucial step in that direction, allowing researchers to exchange and build upon each other's work with greater ease and accuracy. The BioModels.net project is another step: an international effort to (1) define agreed-upon standards for model curation, (2) define agreed-upon vocabularies for annotating models with connections to biological data resources, and (3) provide a free, centralized, publicly-accessible database of annotated, computational models in SBML and other structured formats.' BioModels is co-sponsored by the European Bioinformatics Institute (in the UK), the Keck Graduate Institute (in the US), the Systems Biology Institute (in Japan), and Stellenbosch University (in South Africa).
From the SBML site: 'Advances in biotechnology are leading to larger, more complex quantitative models. The systems biology community needs information standards if models are to be shared, evaluated and developed cooperatively. SBML's widespread adoption offers many benefits, including: (1) enabling the use of multiple tools without rewriting models for each tool, (2) enabling models to be shared and published in a form other researchers can use even in a different software environment, and (3) ensuring the survival of models (and the intellectual effort put into them) beyond the lifetime of the software used to create them.'
Posted by
Peter Suber at 4/12/2005 08:41:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
