Recent advances in biotechnology, spurred by the Human Genome Project, have
resulted in the accumulation of vast amounts of new data. Ontologies --
computer-readable, precise formulations of concepts (and the relationship among
them) in a given field -- are a critical framework for coping with the
exponential growth of valuable biological data generated by high-output
technologies. This book introduces the key concepts and applications of
ontologies and ontology languages in bioinformatics and will be an essential
guide for bioinformaticists, computer scientists, and life science
researchers.The three parts of Ontologies for Bioinformatics ask, and answer,
three pivotal questions: what ontologies are; how ontologies are used; and what
ontologies could be