Cell line ontology

Ontologies provide a common platform of controlled vocabulary for researchers who need to share information across a particular domain, inclusive of machine-interpretable definitions of basic concepts in the domain and relations among them. The need for ontologies that provide a systematic arrangement of available data and allow cross talk across various related domains is gaining momentum. In this backdrop, we have developed a comprehensive ontology on primary and established cell lines-both normal and pathologic. It covers around 400 cell lines. This ontology has been built to include the major domains in the field of biology like anatomy, bio-molecules, chemicals and drugs, pathological conditions and genetic variations around the cell lines. An extensive network of relations has been built across these concepts to enable different combinations of queries. The ontology covers all cell lines from major sources like ATCC, DSMZ, ECACC, ICLC etc. and is built in OWL format.