David A. Gaitros1, Fredrik Ronquist2, Andy Dean2, Greg Riccardi1, Austin Mast3, Peter Jörgensen4
1 Department of Computer Science, Mail Code 4530, FSU, Tallahassee Florida, FL 32306-4530, USA
2 School of Computational Sciences, Mail Code 41020, FSU, Tallahassee Florida, FL 32306-4120, USA
3 Department of Biological Sciences, Mail Code 1100, FSU, Tallahassee Florida, 32306-1100, USA
4 School of Information, Mail Code 2100, FSU, Tallahassee Florida, 32306-2100, USA
We introduce a bioinformatics digital image database system called MorphBank which has been completely redesigned under an NSF grant to support the Tree-of-Life Initiative. The system currently contains over 40,000 images from several different species. The design methodologies that have been used will enable scientists to use web services technologies to access the information using a variety of Data Grid tools. This approach was developed to facilitate high level searches on annotated digital image information contained in the MorphBank system. Techniques have been employed that will accommodate different ontologies and frequent schema changes. This approach relies on well defined standards within the biology community and decreases the amount of manual effort needed to search large databases. Using a client based graphics annotation tool, scientists will be able to locate, display, and document identifying characteristics of biological entities. Currently, biological images of selected taxonomic groups are being used to populate the database but we believe this approach will allow information to be shared among all biology research projects.