title: The Protein Data Bank and lessons in data management.
abstract: The Protein Data Bank (PDB) is a widely used biological database of macromolecular structures with a long history. This history is treated as lessons learned and is used to highlight what are believed to be the best practices important to developers of biological databases today. While the focus is on data quality, data representation and the information technology to support these data, the non-data and technology issues cannot be ignored. The role of the human factor in the form of users, collaborators, scientific society and ad hoc committees is also included.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0537, USA. bourne@sdsc.edu
authors.forename: Philip E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Bourne
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Westbrook
authors.forename: Helen M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Berman
mesh_terms: D003628:Database Management Systems / Q000458:organization & administration; D030562:Databases, Protein / Q000266:history; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D020407:Internet