2012 07 20 Teleconference Minutes

Databases and Ontologies CoR Teleconference

Draft Minutes

July 20, 2012

Participants: Chris Aberg ( University College Dublin ), Nathan Baker ( Pacific Northwest National Lab ), Kenneth Dawson ( University College Dublin ), Teresa Fernandes ( Heriot-Watt University ), Joe Fisher ( Army Research Lab ), Wouter Fransman ( TNO ), Marty Fritts ( SAIC-Frederick, Inc. / NCI at Frederick ), Franscesc Giralt ( Universitat Rovira i Virgili ), Joe Glick ( Expertool ), Vijay Gupta ( RTI International ), Kim Guzan ( RTI International ), Fred Klaessig ( Pennsylvania Bio Nano Systems, LLC ), Rafi Korenstein ( Tel Aviv University ), Iseult Lynch ( University College Dublin ), Axel Mustad ( Nordic Quantum Computing Group AS ), Krishna Rajan ( Iowa State University ), Robert Rallo ( Universitat Rovira i Virgili ), Hubert Rauscher ( JRC ), Stacey Standridge ( NNCO ), Claus Svendsen ( Centre for Ecology and Hydrology ),

Handouts:

• Draft scope statement
• Agenda

Minutes:

1.  I.            Introduction to the Databases and Ontologies CoR

The Communities of Research (CoRs) were proposed at the U.S.-EU: Bridging NanoEHS Research Efforts workshop in March 2011. Three CoRs were announced at the Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting in March 2012. The remaining 3 CoRs were announced at the NanoSafety Cluster Meeting in Grenoble, France in May 2012, including this Community on Databases and Ontologies.

The Communities are intended to provide a platform for scientists in the U.S. and EU to develop a shared repertoire of protocols and methods to overcome research gaps and barriers. The CoRs are managed by the participants, with the U.S. National Nanotechnology Coordination Office and the Directorate-General for Research & Innovation in the EU providing administrative support.

1. II.            Scope

The text of the proposed scope statement is below.

Interconnected, freely communicating and agreed information systems are urgently needed for collating (a) nanoscale material descriptions; (b) their intrinsic and context-dependent properties and their effects, including environmental and health-related; and (c) their interactions with biological entities. The goal of the US-EU Nanotechnology Databases and Ontology Community of Research (CoR) is to enable the sharing, searching, and analysis of nanoscale material characterization data across a wide range of active and archived experimental sources and to give advice on how to structure these data to enable their widest possible use. Achievement of this goal will deliver important new capabilities to (1) allow integration of pertinent risk assessment data among labs to (2) provide situational awareness of data coverage across nanomaterial categories, and to (3) enable predictive computational models for bridging physical properties and biological outcomes with exposure, dispersal and fate.  In order to realize this goal, the Community of Research will initially focus on the following three areas of investigation:

• Identification of the data elements necessary to establish common data-sharing model(s) for this domain.
• Specification of requirements for sharing data between research groups and repositories in human- and machine-interpretable forms
• Definition of concepts necessary to support the above activities and representation of those concepts in an ontological framework. This will include characterizers for the material itself as well as descriptors for its interaction with the environment and elements to characterize intermediate effects in adverse outcome pathways.

Through these activities the CoR will provide tools for improving the overall quality of experimental data being generated in the research communities in the EU and US.

Participants expressed support for the drafted statement. Several attendees expressed a desire to start with a broad scope and then to narrow it as more data is obtained. One participant suggested clarifying whether the CoR will focus on all biological effects, including therapeutic effects, of engineered nanomaterials or only the adverse effects. Members can send comments and suggestions on the scope statement to Hubert (hubert.rauscher@jrc.ec.europa.eu) and Nathan (nathan.baker@pnnl.gov). The revised statement will be discussed on the next conference call.

1. III.            Helsinki workshop half day session discussion

The second EU-U.S.: Bridging NanoEHS Research Efforts workshop will be held in Helsinki, Finland on October 25-26, 2012. The primary focus of the workshop will be building up the six Communities, with a breakout session on each CoR theme. Each CoR is responsible for nominating 1 rapporteur and 2 speakers for their breakout session.

Members can send nominations for the rapporteur, speakers, and presentation topics to Hubert and Nathan. These nominations will be discussed on the next conference call. One presentation from the EU NanoSafety Cluster could give an overview of content, overlap, and gaps between databases in Europe. This presentation could potentially focus on ontologies as well. One participant requested an overview of the EUCLID project. A suggestion was made to include a presentation on databases and vocabularies that may develop independently or together in the U.S. and EU.

Participants agreed that detailed discussions should take place via webinars and that the Helsinki meeting should provide an overview of activities. Attendees also emphasized that this opportunity to meet in person should be used to solidify the Communities strategy and generate a common view.

1. IV.            Roadmap of group (where to go and near future)

The roadmap for this Community has 3 major components: 1) create an inventory of existing databases and resources within scope (August - Members can send a short summary of relevant activities to Hubert and Nathan.); 2) Identify common themes and gaps in the inventory (September); and 3) articulate the steps to address identified gaps (October).

Participants on the call suggested collaborating with other CoRs as appropriate. Currently there is no external funding for joint research projects, but there may be mechanisms to fund specific projects from this Community in the future.

CoR members are encouraged to advertise this Community to their networks and to invite colleagues to join. Membership suggestions can also be emailed to Hubert and Nathan, copying Stacey (sstandridge@nnco.nano.gov).

Action Items:

• Send comments and suggestions on the scope statement to Hubert and Nathan
• Send nominations for the rapporteur, speakers, and presentation topics to Hubert and Nathan
• Send a short summary of relevant activities to Hubert and Nathan
• Advertise this Community to your networks and invite colleagues to join