From Science Information to Science Informatics:

Parallels and Paradoxes in Chemistry and Molecular

Biology

Gary Wigginswiggins@indiana.edu

Convergence of Chemistry and Biology Biochemistry/MolecularBiology

Chemistry vs. Biology Physical Science Negative public

perception Women a distinct

minority in the profession

High-cost information products (not much free)

Life Science Positive public

perception Lots of women in

the professions Lots of free (or

low-cost) information sources

Physical Sciences Sciences that explore the nature

and properties of energy and nonliving matter

Physical Sciences Disciplines Chemistry Physics Materials science Climatology Oceanography Environmental

sciences

Astronomy Geology Engineering Mathematics Computer Science

Chemistry science that deals with the

properties, composition, and structure of substances (defined as elements and compounds), the transformations that they undergo, and the energy that is released or absorbed during these processes.

Public Perception of Chemistry Recognition of higher standard of

living through chemical advances Career for people in white lab coats

who make smelly concoctions Polluters of the environment Who has seen a TV program about

chemistry in the last month?

Public Perception of Chemistry

…the North American and Western European public by and large still do not believe that the chemical industry is anything but a necessary evil.

--Mark S. Reisch, C&EN, September 4, 2000

Life Sciences Study of living organisms from their

molecular and biochemical subsystems to the ecosystems created by the interactions of multiple species

Continuity and interdependence make it difficult to define the boundaries of the life sciences

http://www.lifesciences.umich.edu/overview/commission/scope.html

Life Sciences Disciplines Biology Pharmacology Anatomy Physiology Microbiology Genetics Molecular Biology

Medicine Dentistry Nursing Pharmacy Epidemiology Public Health

Molecular Biology Concerned with studying the

chemical structures and processes of biological phenomena at the molecular level

Public Perception of Life Sciences Strongly tied to efforts to protect

the environment, cure disease, etc.

Career for caring, dedicated individuals

Lots of engaging and entertaining nature programs on TV

Public (Free) Databases in Life Sciences GenBank and many other

biomolecular sequence and structure databases

PubMed (NCBI and NLM) PubMed Central

NCBI’s Coffee Break

BioOne: A SPARC Initiative

BioMed Central Publishes journals in all areas of biology

and medicine Free access to peer-reviewed research

articles through The British Library through PubMed Central

Subscription-based access to reviews, commentaries and other information serviceshttp://www.biomedcentral.com/

E-BioSci EMBO (European Molecular Biology

Organization) initiative Services to access and retrieve

digital information in the life sciences

Nature Publishing Group will participate

http://www.e-biosci.org

E-BioSci Objectives Foster optimal pooling and use of

European biological archives and data collections

Stimulate the development of common protocols and methodologies Searching and retrieval in:

bibiographic databases sequence databases

E-BioSci Objectives Provide a framework for further research

into more effective strategies for linking of bibliographic with molecular, genomic, and (3D-)image databases

Act as host for the web-publication of digital articles

Operate in harmony with other international efforts, including PubMed and PubMed Central in the USA

Physical Sciences Information Infrastructure (PSII) Workshop: May 20-21, 2000

http://www.osti.gov/physicalsciences/ Included 2 SLA representatives as

participants Representatives from AAAS (publisher

of Science) and Nature Magazine Lots of government & academic types No one from the BIG DEAL publishers

PSII Workshop Conclusions Endorsement of a national

infrastructure“When comparing The National Library of

Medicine’s amazing success as a benchmark, it is clear that much can be done in the physical sciences to positively impact research and practice in the physical sciences.”

PSII Workshop Recommendations Common knowledge base Point of convergence for all

information Openly available source of

information to serve all users in an electronic environment

Public Library of Science (PLoS) Non-profit organization of

scientists committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature freely accessible to scientists and to the public around the world, for the benefit of scientific progress, education and the public good.http://www.publiclibraryofscience.org/

PLoS Objectives Free access to scientific journal

articles six months after publication

Centralized archives of life sciences literature in a repository such as PubMed Central

PLoS Successes Open letter signed by 28,166 scientists

from 172 countries as of 10/8/01 HOWEVER, only 3,000 in the US as of

late August 2001 New journal production companies

springing up: Blue Sky: www.BlueSkyScholars.com bepress: www.bepress.com ejournalPress.com: www.ejpress.com

PLoS: Impact Few publishers have agreed to put their

journals on PubMed Central for free, BUT: Science now offers free access to research

articles one year out Royal Society of Chemistry has free access two

years out Highwire Press has ~ 325,000 free articles NASA Astrophysics Data System has over

300,000 free articles PLoS will launch their own publishing

effort: page charges @ $300/article

PubMed Central and PubScience PubMed Central began in February

2000 54 journals available as of 10/10/01, 43

of which are BioMed Central journals http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov

PubSCIENCE began in 1999, with a focus on the physical sciences Over 40 participating publishers http://pubsci.osti.gov/

PubSCIENCE: Who cares? …while keeping medical research

out of the hands of physicians and patients might be considered a moral outrage, the research needs of those involved with physics and the natural sciences are going to elicit a mere shrug from the average person.

--Robin Peek, Information Today, September 2001, p. 42

PLoS Failures ARL Board of Directors refused to

issue a public statement of support last July

PLoS: ACS Reaction …no editor or author has indicated

an unwillingness to participate in the ACS journal publishing program because of PLOS.

--Robert D. Bovenschulte, Director, ACS Publications Division

(C&EN, September 3, 2001, p. 44)

Statement of the ACS, July 31, 2001 The American Chemical Society

(ACS), the world’s largest scientific society, believes that government should scrutinize its role as a provider of S&T information in order to avoid harming the scientific enterprise, jeopardizing the stewardship of S&T information, and competing unnecessarily with businesses and nonprofit groups.

Future Directions More emphasis on standards for

information production and retrieval systems: author empowerment

Research on user behavior and use of computer systems

New paradigms for science publishing Increased emphasis on informatics

IU School of Informatics http://informatics.indiana.edu http://www.informatics.iupui.edu/ http://www.newmedia.iupui.edu/

Chemical Informatics Chemical informatics provides the

tools to acquire, organize, and evaluate data, yielding new insights for further chemical research.

Major Areas of Interest in Chemical Informatics Productivity applications Informatics techniques Simulation (Molecular Modeling)

Bioinformatics Bioinformatics is a pure and an

applied science dealing with the collection, management, analysis and dissemination of biological data and knowledge, especially with respect to genetics and molecular biology.

Major Areas of Interest in Bioinformatics Study of the genome code Understanding role of the genome

in regulating biological functions Intense concentration on proteins,

their structure and function Proteomics

School of Informatics BS Degree: 122 hours Informatics core courses: 30 hours Other informatics courses: 9 hours

Some may be from a department/school outside the School of Informatics

Cognate area courses: 15-18 hours

Representative Core Courses Information infrastructure Information representation Mathematical foundations Social informatics Organizational informatics

Master of Science in Informatics Programs Human Computer Interaction Health Informatics Bioinformatics Chemical Informatics

Graduate Courses

Introduction to Informatics Information Management Chemical Information Technology Molecular Modeling & Computational

Chemistry

Informatics: Opening the Door to New Careers!

Who owns: www.chemistry.org? Ans: American Chemical Society www.biology.org? Ans:Howard Hughes Medical

Institute

OSTI ProductsDOE Information Bridge (gray

literature) http://www.osti.gov/bridge

PubSCIENCE (journal literature) http://www.osti.gov/pubscience

PrePRINT Network (preprint literature) http://www.osti.gov/preprint

Federal R&D Project Summaries http://www.osti.gov/fedrnd

GrayLit Network http://www.osti.gov/graylit

EnergyFiles (virtual library collections) http://www.osti.gov/energyfiles

Research and Development Project Summaries http://www.osti.gov/rnd

DOE R&D Accomplishments http://www.osti.gov/accomplishments

Bibliography Reisch, Mark S. “Responsible Care.” C&EN September 4, 2000, 78(36),

21-26.http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/7836/7836bus1.html

Challenges and Opportunities in Understanding the Complexity of Living Systems: Scope of the Life Sciences

http://www.lifesciences.umich.edu/overview/commission/scope.html Future e-access to the primary literature (Nature Forum)

http://www.nature.com/nature/debates/e-access/