Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Institute of Computer Science, Chair of Bioinformatics 

One challenge for bioinformatics is to reasonably structure and connect the growing amount of data within modern biology, so that novel, former unavailable knowledge is generated. The Bioinformatics Department of the Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf has been addressing this problem for several years. In this context, databases, specialized on studying the evolutionary development of humans, have been set up. Programs for reconstructing phylogenies ultimately aim at clearly presenting the complex data while regarding the complicated interdependencies within the scientific community.

Furthermore, the Bioinformatics Department participates in an exploratory focus, supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation), where it has the function to process accumulating data and to some extend analyze and provide them to the scientific community. But such rather "small" projects are inefficient; several tasks have to be repeated time and time again.

For several years the bioinformatics working group is using Oracle as a stable relational database system. Since then, experiences with this high-performance database have been made and patterns of thought have been strengthened analogically. During the migration to the most recent Oracle Version 10g, in which grid computing is completely integrated, these new features have been considered as future enhancements for our data bases. This offered a first insight to the functionality of distributed database systems. Thus, the existing database architecture offers ideal premises for implementing the structuring and management measures needed for the Ontoverse project.

Additional programs were developed around the database, which deal with data extraction from the World Wide Web and with integrating these new information into the database. Thereby not only data extraction but also analysis and presentation of obtained data were of major importance. Actually, experiences with huge data amounts and the challenges of handling them are gained within another project, which deals with a comparison of the human genome with those of other primates.

Contact:   Prof. Dr. Arndt von Haeseler Heinrich-Heine-University Duesseldorf Institute of Computer Science, Chair of Bioinformatics Universitaetsstr. 1, Building. 25.02.02 40225 Duesseldorf Phone: +49-211-81-11358 Fax: +49-211-81-15767 e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Center for Integrative Bioinformatics Vienna Max F. Perutz Laboratories - Dr.-Bohr-Gasse 9, A-1030 Wien Webpage:http://www.cibiv.at
Dr. Dominic Mainz Heinrich-Heine-University Duesseldorf Institute of Computer Science, Chair of Bioinformatics Universitaetsstr. 1, Building. 25.02.02 40225 Duesseldorf Phone: +49-211-81-13716 Fax: +49-211-81-15767 e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Dr. Ingo Paulsen Heinrich-Heine-University Duesseldorf Institute of Computer Science, Chair of Bioinformatics Universitaetsstr. 1, Building. 25.02.02 40225 Duesseldorf Phone: +49-211-81-13716 Fax: +49-211-81-15767 e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Jochen Kohl Heinrich-Heine-University Duesseldorf Institute of Computer Science, Chair of Bioinformatics Universitaetsstr. 1, Building. 25.02.02 40225 Duesseldorf Phone: +49-211-81-13716 Fax: +49-211-81-15767 e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://www.uni-duesseldorf.de