BioSig: an imaging bioinformatic system for studying phenomics

Using genomic information to understand complex organisms requires comprehensive knowledge of the dynamics of phenotype generation and maintenance. A phenotype results from selective expression of the genome, creating a history of the cell and its response to the extracellular environment. Defining cell phenomes requires tracking the kinetics and quantities of multiple constituent proteins, their cellular context, and their morphological features in large populations. The paper considers how the BioSig imaging bioinformatic system for characterizing phenomics answers these challenges. The BioSig approach to microscopy and quantitative image analysis helps to build a more detailed picture of the signaling that occurs between cells as a response to exogenous stimulus such as radiation or as a consequence of endogenous programs leading to biological functions. The system provides a data model for capturing experimental annotations and variables, computational techniques for summarizing large numbers of images, and a distributed architecture that facilitates distant collaboration.