-- RobAllan - 29 Aug 2006

The Integrative Biology VRE Project: how portals and digital repositories can benefit computational biology.

Matthew Mascord (IBVRE, Oxford)

Abstract

The Integrative Biology VRE project was set up specifically to identify and develop support for particular areas within the Integrative Biology communities' research lifecycle where there is clear benefit in the provision of some form of online collaboration environment, or portal. Through a qualitative study, based on interviews and focus groups, a targeted set of high level requirements were identified, articulating an approach based on bespoke tool development and technology evaluation. One such requirement, for a common, centralised, digital repository for in silico experiments, aims to help ensure all experiments carried out are reproducible. To deliver this, the IBVRE project is working closely with the IB technology group - who are producing the underlying requisite Grid middleware - to design and develop a portlet-based user interface for this repository. This talk outlines the user interface design elicitation work carried out so far with two biomedical engineering research groups in the US, and in so doing explains why such a portal interface has real potential in terms of fundamentally changing and enhancing the way research is carried out within this community.