SAN JOSE, Calif.--At the Object Management Group's meeting here on August 22-27, its Life Sciences Research task force will be accepting revised responses to its request for proposed standards for biomolecular sequence analysis and genomic maps, according to David Benton, task force cochairman and a member of SmithKline Beecham's Advanced Information Technology department. Benton said an adoption vote would likely take place at a meeting in November in Cambridge, Mass.
Revised proposals for a biomolecular sequence analysis standard were originally scheduled to be turned in at the task force's Tokyo meeting, May 18-20, but more time was needed, said Benton. Seven organizations--Concept 5 Technologies, European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), Genome Informatics, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Neomorphic Software, NetGenics, and Oxford Molecular Group--are expected to submit revised proposals in time to be reviewed at the August meeting. EBI and Millennium will supply a joint revision to their proposed genomic maps standards, also to be formally presented and evaluated at the August meeting. By design, no action on genomic maps was taken at the Tokyo meeting.
While in Tokyo, the task force recommended that OMG issue a new request for proposals on bibliographic query services, which the group did on May 21. Cheminformatics and macromolecular structure are two new areas the task force is addressing. A cheminformatics working group has released a request for information and is still accepting responses. The task force expects to issue a request for proposals for representation of and access to macromolecular structures at the August meeting, Benton said.