A workflow-based application for exploration of biomedical data sets

Abstract

Based on the biotechnological revolution in the past years, molecular biology has become increasingly data-driven. Knowledge Discovery in Databases, a well-known process in the field of bioinformatics, is supporting the biological research process from data integration, knowledge mining to data interpretation. This work proposes a new software suite, termed Knowledge Discovery in Databases Designer (KD 3), covering the complete Knowledge Discovery in Databases process using a workflow-oriented architecture. Three different application-oriented modules are implemented in KD 3: First, the Designer for designing specific workflows. These workflows can be used by the Interpreter, which allows to load and parameterize existing workflows. The Launcher encapsulates one dedicated workflow into an independent application to answer one specific biomedical question. KD 3 offers a variety of implemented methods, which can be easily extended with new customized components using functional objects. All components can be connected to workflows, which may contain elements of other applications. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.