Abstract

Over the space of three decades, biologists have accumulated a wealth of detailed information about the molecular components of living systems and their behaviour. Early painstaking efforts which revealed fragmentary information about genes and their products have been dwarfed by the systematic sequencing of whole genomes, and even the ground-breaking human genome project looks modest by today’s efforts to sequence thousands of genomes. Ever more ingenious high-throughput methods have generated shared information collections of sequences, structures, molecular interactions, and gene-expression profiles (to name just a few).

This shared electronic record of science is essential to any research which touches living systems. The obvious relevance to human health and medicine is but one facet of its utility. Dozens of industries ranging from fish farming through brewing to even timber production optimise their benefits by studying the genetic make-up of their subject matter.

However, exploiting the shared electronic knowledge requires careful information engineering. The volume of information is very substantial, challenging storage capabilities, and its complexity is mind-boggling. Millions of molecules interact in the processes that control even a single cell.

With many collaborators, we at the European Bioinformatics Institute are long-standing custodians of many key biological information collections. Our methods for information collection, organisation and sharing have tracked rapid developments in informatics, not least in the era of eScience and eResearch. In this talk I will present some of that history, the challenges that have arisen, and the solutions adopted. We rejoice in the emergence of eScience as a unifying theme bridging disciplines, sharing solutions, and legitimising the nameless profession which had evolved to tackle our information needs. In discussing the developments in bioinformatics I will speculate beyond today’s eResearch to possible future scenarios for information sharing and exploitation.

About the speaker

Graham is currently Associate Director of the European Bioinformatics Institute.

Previously he has been Joint Head with Michael Ashburner. He was responsible for the launch of the Institute in 1993 and ran the Information Services of the EBI until 1998.

Earlier, Graham worked with EMBL-Heidelberg in the DNA Data Library, first in software and database design, and then leading the project from 1986.

Graham has undertaken a degree and postgraduate research in Psychology and Computer Science, with ancillary studies in Physics and Mathematics. He has held various posts in academic computation and data provision including databases on: primate behaviour, health information, social behaviour, and British economic behaviour.