A primer in knowledge management for nanoinformatics in medicine

Abstract

In the last years new scientific knowledge and technological developments derived from the Human Genome Project have been affecting the way in which biomedical research and clinical practice is carried out. This fact has had a profound impact in the current scope and definition of the"biomedical informatics" discipline. The big "genomic wave" boosted efforts in the medical informatics community to adapt its systems and make it possible the integration of "omics" knowledge and bioinformatic tools. Recent advances in another discipline, Nanotechnology, seem to be similarly starting to affect clinical research and practice (nanomedicine). The purpose of this document is to review the state of the art and current developments in nanomedicine and its potential impact on Biomedical Informatics. The authors have recently been granted with an European Commission research project, Action-GRID, that will analyse the field of nanoinformatics with the aim of identifing needs and discuss ongoing challenges and priorities in terms of knowledge management and discovery in nanomedicine. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.