Dear Olga, dear Nina, dear all,

I'm still not sure what I will take home from the Fridays telephone 
conference. Therefore I would be glad if someone (probably from the 
informatic side) could explain me the definition of ontology for repeated 
dose toxicity. I think I do not really understand which kind of function 
this ontology will have in OPENTOX.

What should an ontology do for OPENTOX. Is it used to query/find all 
relevant data in any supported database? Would it be substance specific, 
so that substance information comes first and then the query for tox 
information?

Each database has its "own" ontology and data are arranged very 
differently. Would it be the goal to define how data can be found in each 
database? E.g. in RepDose and Leadcope so that a programme that searches 
for target organ/study LOELs finds them in any of the databases? In this 
approach it would be useful to define  a controlled vocabulary so that 
"similar" toxic effects will be found regardless which term the database 
has used for it. INHAND could provide a controlled vocabulary for this 
purpose. The level of detail has to be discussed.

I like to thank Olga, for her presentation of Protege on Friday. Olga, 
could you please send me your presentation, so that I could have a closer 
look on it? As far as I understand is it used to define a "new" ontology? 
Right? Is this needed for OPENTOX as well?

As mentioned before, I would be glad to get some guidance what kind of 
work is needed/expected. 

Regards, 

                        Sylvia
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Sylvia Escher
Group Manager Structure Activity Relationships
Chemical Risk Assessment
Fraunhofer Institute of Toxicology and Experimental Medicine (ITEM)
Nikolai-Fuchs-Strasse 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany 
Tel: +49 511 5350-330, Fax: +49 511 5350-335
mailto:Sylvia.Escher at item.fraunhofer.de
www.item.fraunhofer.de