title: Informatics and standards for nanomedicine technology.
abstract: There are several issues to be addressed concerning the management and effective use of information (or data), generated from nanotechnology studies in biomedical research and medicine. These data are large in volume, diverse in content, and are beset with gaps and ambiguities in the description and characterization of nanomaterials. In this work, we have reviewed three areas of nanomedicine informatics: information resources; taxonomies, controlled vocabularies, and ontologies; and information standards. Informatics methods and standards in each of these areas are critical for enabling collaboration; data sharing; unambiguous representation and interpretation of data; semantic (meaningful) search and integration of data; and for ensuring data quality, reliability, and reproducibility. In particular, we have considered four types of information standards in this article, which are standard characterization protocols, common terminology standards, minimum information standards, and standard data communication (exchange) formats. Currently, because of gaps and ambiguities in the data, it is also difficult to apply computational methods and machine learning techniques to analyze, interpret, and recognize patterns in data that are high dimensional in nature, and also to relate variations in nanomaterial properties to variations in their chemical composition, synthesis, characterization protocols, and so on. Progress toward resolving the issues of information management in nanomedicine using informatics methods and standards discussed in this article will be essential to the rapidly growing field of nanomedicine informatics.
authors: Knowledge Discovery and Informatics Group, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.
authors: Dennis G
authors: DG
authors: Thomas
authors: Pennsylvania Bio Nano Systems, LLC, Doylestown, PA, USA.
authors: Fred
authors: F
authors: Klaessig
authors: Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, School of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
authors: Stacey L
authors: SL
authors: Harper
authors: SAIC-Frederick, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD, USA.
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Fritts
authors: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, WV, USA.
authors: Mark D
authors: MD
authors: Hoover
authors: Health Solutions Business Unit, SAIC, Rockville, MD.
authors: Sharon
authors: S
authors: Gaheen
authors: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Emory University and Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors: Todd H
authors: TH
authors: Stokes
authors: Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA.
authors: Rebecca
authors: R
authors: Reznik-Zellen
authors: 3rd Millenium, Inc., Waltham, MA, USA.
authors: Elaine T
authors: ET
authors: Freund
authors: Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors: Juli D
authors: JD
authors: Klemm
authors: Radiological Sciences Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
authors: David S
authors: DS
authors: Paik
authors: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.
authors: Nathan A
authors: NA
authors: Baker
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D016208:Databases, Factual; D050997:Nanomedicine / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D018875:Vocabulary, Controlled