The International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility
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The Journal of Neuroscience, April 4, 2007 • 27(14):3613–3615 • 3613 Toolbox Editor’s Note: Toolboxes are intended to briefly highlight a new method or a resource of general use in neuroscience or to critically analyze existing approaches or methods. For more information, see http://www.jneurosci.org/misc/itoa.shtml. Global Neuroinformatics: The International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility Jan G. Bjaalie1 and Sten Grillner1,2 1International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility and 2Nobel Institute for Neurophysiology, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden There is a growing awareness in the neu- efit from a major concerted action. For defined in the context of the INCF, is an roscience community of the need for da- this reason 12 member countries of the interdisciplinary research area combining tabases extending from genes to cognition Organization for Economic Cooperation neuroscience with information science/ and disease mechanisms. Such databases and Development have formed the Inter- technology. Neuroinformatics deals with are important for data sharing as well as national Neuroinformatics Coordinating the development of neuroscience data and for modeling and use of computational Facility (INCF), an organization that will knowledge bases together with computa- tools at different levels. The development facilitate the development of neuroinfor- tional models and analytical tools for the of this area, neuroinformatics, would ben- matics (http://www.incf.org). This effort sharing, integration, and analysis of ex- is financed by contributions from each perimental data, discovery research, and member nation (Belgium, Czech Repub- the advancement of theories of nervous Received Feb. 8, 2007; revised Feb. 20, 2007; accepted Feb. 20, 2007. lic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Ja- system function (Fig. 1). The ultimate J.G.B. is the Executive Director of the INCF. S.G. is the Chair of the Gov- pan, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, goal of the INCF is to accelerate progress erning Board of the INCF. The members of the INCF Governing Board con- in the understanding of brain function. It tribute to the development of the INCF, together with the INCF national Switzerland, and the United States), as nodes. Previous working groups of the Organization for Economic Cooper- well as from the European Commission. also may serve as a source of inspiration ation and Development (OECD) Global Science Forum (GSF) have prepared The central Secretariat of the INCF in for information sciences and develop- the background analysis that resulted in the recommendation of the OECD Stockholm will have a staff of ϳ10, in- ment of technologies using principles of Ministers of Science to establish the INCF. Chairs and cochairs of these neural processing in the brain. Under- working groups were Stephen H. Koslow (United States), Shun-ichi Amari cluding the Executive Director, Program (Japan),andStenGrillner(Europe).TheoperationsoftheINCFbuildonthe Managers, and other staff. We outline standing the brain requires integration of Understanding and Business Plan of the INCF. This article describes princi- here the objectives of the INCF and the heterogeneous and complex data col- ples only. INCF strategies and actions are subject to continuous monitoring resources that are being developed for lected at multiple levels of investigation. and approval by the INCF Governing Board. Role of the OECD: OECD is an intergovernmental organization which provides a forum for analysis, de- neuroscience. velopment, and reform of economic and social policies. The division that The mission of the INCF is to (1) co- Principal Work Program represents the basis for the establishment of the INCF is the Directorate for ordinate and foster international activities The principal work program of the INCF Science, Technology, and Industry. This Directorate provides policy advice in neuroinformatics; (2) contribute to the in areas such as biotechnology, telecommunications, and information ser- covers large areas of neuroinformatics, as vices. It includes the GSF as a venue for meetings of senior science policy development of scalable, portable, and ex- listed in Table 2. Main deliverables in- officials of OECD countries with the goal of identifying and maximizing tensible applications that can be used for clude (1) web-based portal services, fo- opportunities for international cooperation. GSF special-purpose working furthering our knowledge of the human cused on access to interoperable and inte- groupsperformtechnicalanalysesanddevelopfindingsandrecommenda- brain and its diseases; (3) contribute to the tions for actions by governments. The first such working group in the area grated databases and tools covering of neuroinformatics was established in 1996, under the forerunner of GSF, the development and maintenance of specific selected areas, (2) new approaches to use MegaScience Forum, and delivered a report in 1999 (http://www.incf.org/ database and other computational infra- of standardized terminologies and stan- med/Report_OECD_MSF_1999.pdf). At the request of the GSF, a further structures and support mechanisms; and dards for data production, and (3) novel examination was performed, leading to a second report in 2002 (http:// (4) focus on developing mechanisms for training opportunities. Some aspects of www.incf.org/med/Report_OECD_GSF_2002.pdf). The latter report was endorsed at the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial meeting in Jan- the seamless flow of information and these areas, which will be of direct rele- uary 2004. Sixteen countries, as well as the European Commission, then knowledge between academia, private en- vance for neuroscientists, are outlined elaborated the legal basis and platform for the INCF. terprises, and the publication industry. below. Correspondence should be addressed to Jan G. Bjaalie, INCF Secretariat, An extensive analysis and a series of Karolinska Institutet, Nobels va¨g 15 A, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden. E- mail: [email protected]. platform documents serve as a basis for Portals to neuroinformatics resources DOI:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0558-07.2007 the operations that are to be performed by A large number of neuroinformatics re- Copyright©2007SocietyforNeuroscience 0270-6474/07/273613-03$15.00/0 the INCF (Table 1). Neuroinformatics, as sources, ranging from data repositories to 3614 • J. Neurosci., April 4, 2007 • 27(14):3613–3615 Bjaalie and Grillner • Toolbox advanced database applications and in- Table 1. Platform documents for the INCF cluding shared tools and computational Document Description models, are currently available. A listing Understanding for the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating The legal document signed by all participants in the of many of the available resources can be Facility (http://www.incf.org/med/INCF_Understanding.pdf) INCF that sets the framework for joining the INCF found at the Neuroscience Database Business Plan for the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating The document that describes the mission and operating Gateway, hosted by The Society for Neu- Facility (http://www.incf.org/med/INCF_BusinessPlan.pdf) procedure of the INCF roscience (http://www.sfn.org/ndg). An- Program in International Neuroinformatics (http://www.incf.org/ The framework document for a future funding scheme other important and supplementary ini- med/INCF_PIN.pdf) for international neuroinformatics tiative is the Neuroscience Information Framework (http://neurogateway.org). The INCF will assist the community with the creation of an inventory of available resources, with the starting point being the activities and priorities of the INCF national nodes in each of the member countries. Furthermore, the INCF will fo- cus on the development of portals provid- ing access to different research areas and domains, primarily to areas that are al- ready represented by a critical mass of dis- tributed neuroinformatics resources. The motivation is not only to assist neurosci- entists in finding individual resources but to facilitate rapid and smart access to rel- evant combinations of resources. Such integration of existing resources is demanding. It serves two primary pur- poses. The first purpose is obviously to extract the most out of the existing re- sources and to make the deliverables of already funded research and development as accessible and useful to the neuro- science community as possible. The sec- Figure 1. The three foci of neuroinformatics. ond purpose is to prepare the bases for future projects, in charting the present bottlenecks for integration, within the sci- cated. With new technological develop- Table 2. Principal work program for the INCF entific or technical domain or at the socio- ments and possibilities emerging in data Databases that cover basic and clinical neuroscience from logical level. After the first analysis of such production and data management, it ap- the level of the gene to behavior systems integrations, and drawing on the pears logical and necessary to gradually Infrastructure, such as portals, communication channels, initial experiences, the INCF will map the develop standards at all levels of research. database federations, and grid middleware road ahead in terms of services that will be Standardized terminologies and stan- Tools, such as simulation environments for computational developed within the scope of the INCF dards for data production will make data neuroscience, computational devices, data analysis, data work plan. Interaction with industry