| 27 | | We here report an easy-to-adopt system for the harmonization, integration and search of phenotypic information from experimental and clinical biobanks. The first component is a community created flexible, ontology-enabled model for the uniform representation of any phenotypic data: panels/cohorts, individuals, protocols, observable features and values (Pheno-OM). Then we present a reusable implementation of this model, including a simple tab/excel based data file format (Pheno-TAB) to harmonize, load and share (meta)data on and a ‘database-in-a-box’ (Pheno-DB) for local biobank projects to quickly setup their own phenotype repository or customize it using the [http://www.molgenis.org MOLGENIS] system. As a next step we aim to demonstrate how use of ontologies and semantic methods in this system enable integrated search of vast collections of phenotypic information across investigations, species and even a federated network of PhenoDB installations. Thus we expect PhenoFlow to lower the barriers for phenotypic data flow between biobanks and enables integrated search across panels and species to find larger sample sets and data for the next generation of biomedical studies. |
