Collaborations
Other Databases
The JWS Online project started in 2000 and models were
made available for simulation at the end of that
year. JWS Online was probably the first initiative that
gave its users access to a curated set of models that
could be run in a web-browser. Later a number of other
initiatives were started with partly overlapping
aims. The most important of these initiatives is the Biomodels
database. The Biomodels database is hosted at EMBL-EBI
(UK) and is a collaborative effort between this
institute, the SBML
team (USA), the Systems Biology Group of the Keck
Graduate Institute (USA), the Systems Biology Institute
(Japan) and JWS Online, (Le Novere et al.,
2006). Biomodels focuses on model curation, annotation
and import/export formats of published models. Models
are curated to ensure that the published results can be
reproduced. In the annotation process model components
are linked to controlled vocabularies and other data
resources. Models to be included in the database must be
compliant with MIRIAM standards (Le Novere et al.,
2005). Both the Biomodels and JWS Online project are
actively involved in adding models to their databases
and these models are exchanged in SBML format between
the two initiatives.
Whereas JWS Online and
Biomodels focus on complete model descriptions and
provide downloads in several formats of these models,
the SABIO-RK database focusses on the description of
individual reaction steps.
Research Initiatives