title: Big data analytics in immunology: a knowledge-based approach.
abstract: With the vast amount of immunological data available, immunology research is entering the big data era. These data vary in granularity, quality, and complexity and are stored in various formats, including publications, technical reports, and databases. The challenge is to make the transition from data to actionable knowledge and wisdom and bridge the knowledge gap and application gap. We report a knowledge-based approach based on a framework called KB-builder that facilitates data mining by enabling fast development and deployment of web-accessible immunological data knowledge warehouses. Immunological knowledge discovery relies heavily on both the availability of accurate, up-to-date, and well-organized data and the proper analytics tools. We propose the use of knowledge-based approaches by developing knowledgebases combining well-annotated data with specialized analytical tools and integrating them into analytical workflow. A set of well-defined workflow types with rich summarization and visualization capacity facilitates the transformation from data to critical information and knowledge. By using KB-builder, we enabled streamlining of normally time-consuming processes of database development. The knowledgebases built using KB-builder will speed up rational vaccine design by providing accurate and well-annotated data coupled with tailored computational analysis tools and workflow.
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, Metropolitan College, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Guang Lan
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Cancer Vaccine Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4320-1377
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, Metropolitan College, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Lou
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9365-8818
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chitkushev
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, Metropolitan College, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0523-5266
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Brusic
mesh_terms: D000486:Allergy and Immunology; D019295:Computational Biology; D057225:Data Mining; D003628:Database Management Systems; D016208:Databases, Factual; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D020407:Internet; D012984:Software