MVILAIN@G.BBN.COM (Marc Vilain) (10/13/87)
BBN Science Development Program Joint Biotech and AI Seminar Series Lecture "The Matrix of Biological Knowledge" Kimberle Koile BBN Labs (KKOILE@G.BBN.COM) BBN Labs 10 Moulton Street 2nd floor large conference room 10:30 am, Thursday October 15th The body of experimental data in the biological sciences is immense and growing rapidly. Its volume is so extensive that computer methods, possibly straining the limits of current technology will be necessary to organize the data. Moreover, it seems highly likely that there are a significant number of as yet undiscovered ordering relations, new laws, and predictive models embedded in the mass of existing information. To employ this body of information productively, it will be useful to create an extensive data/knowledge base, "the matrix of biological knowledge," structured to provide a conceptual framework by the laws, models, empirical generalizations, and physical foundations of the modern biological sciences. --- from a Santa Fe Institute press release This talk will describe preliminary efforts to define and prototype parts of the Matrix. These efforts took place at a summer workshop that was organized as a result of a National Academy of Sciences report published in 1985, "Models for Biomedical Research: A New Perspective." The workshop, sponsored by the Santa Fe Institute with support from NIH, DOE, and several commercial companies, was attended by fifty scientists from a variety of biology and computer subdisciplines. Note: A related talk on the Matrix will be given Friday morning (announcement forthcoming) by Prof. Harold Morowitz of the Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University. Prof. Morowitz chaired the Committee on Models for Biomedical Research, which produced the above mentioned report, and co-chaired the Workshop on the Matrix of Biological Knowledge. -------