Network P2P for exploring and visualization of proteomic data produced by two dimensional electrophoresis

Our working group has started a project aiming at the development of analysis algorithms devoted to images produced by two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) for general applications in the field of proteomics. General analysis problems have been addressed, with the ultimate goal of the maximization of the "automation level" of the analysis procedure, without reducing the accuracy now reachable only with manual intervention. For this purpose, the working group is analyzing 2-DE images that a real ready stored or that will be produced by means of the instrumentation and the know-how of the biologists participating to the project. It's obvious that the "key" for the project success is primarily the availability of many images produced by different groups, but especially their "comparability", and their significant "clinical contextualization". For these reasons, the group has started the implementation of federation of heterogeneous biobanks of images founded on open registry/repository for P2P architecture (ebXML RR), on images stored with standard metadata for their comparability (EFMI MIP) (A. Horsch et al., 2005), and on standard electronic documents for their clinical contextualization (HL7 CDA) (G. Mercurio and A. Rossi Mori). This paper summarizes the concepts of the initiative, describes its current state and presents an overview of related work.