Using the functional data model to integrate distributed biological data sources

There is unavoidable heterogeneity in the databanks and databases currently used for biological data collections. The authors are aiming to develop a system that will provide uniform access to heterogeneous databases via a single high-level query language or graphical interface and will enable multi-database queries. They have taken an approach in which high-level code in an object-oriented database system (based on the functional data model) is used effectively as a mediator between distributed heterogeneous databases. The resulting system enables one to ask queries that combine, for example, geometric calculations on three-dimensional protein structures stored locally and access to databanks held at the European Bioinformatics Institute, while making use of existing search engines and indexes when accessing remote data.