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Samwald Matthias | Fellow Postdoctoral
2008-12-01 - 2010-09-30 | Research area: Other
An Integrated Knowledge Base of Vertebrate Cognition
Modern neurocognitive research produces vast amounts of data and hypotheses. A thorough understanding of the brain and cognitive processes requires the integration of data from many different types of organisms, experiments, research groups, disciplines, publications, and databases into a coherent view of biological reality. This project will harness new, powerful information technologies (Semantic Web technologies, ontologies) to provide such an integrated view. The project will consist of the following work packages: 1) Creating a machine-processable ontology for the representation of vertebrate cognition and behavior based on a thorough analysis of relevant literature. 2) Interlinking the ontology of vertebrate cognition with a wide variety of existing ontologies, data repositories, and publications, thereby creating a large knowledge base about cognition and neurobiology. 3) Creating an interactive knowledge base on the KLI website, based on the resources developed in tasks 1 and 2. This knowledge base will build on the established KLI Theory Lab, forming one of the first sophisticated online databases about cognition and biological theory. The knowledge base will be hosted on the KLI website and will, after further extension into other knowledge domains, replace the existing version of the KLI Theory Lab. 4) Evaluating the practical value of the knowledge base by answering biomedical questions. The knowledge base will be used to elucidate relevant biomedical problems, such as the cognitive aspects of neurodegenerative diseases. 5) Disseminating project outcomes, international networking and ensuring long-term sustainability. The extended version of the KLI Theory Lab will be actively disseminated to expert communities, media, and the wider public. Successful dissemination will ensure the participation of others in the further extension and refinement of the knowledge base after this project has ended.