diff --git a/software/symbiont b/software/symbiont new file mode 100644 index 0000000..15c2e39 --- /dev/null +++ b/software/symbiont @@ -0,0 +1,29 @@ +--- +layout: software +title: SymbiOnt +active: yes +homepage: +source: https://github.com/matentzn/symbiont +--- + +# SymbiOnt: Augmenting and merging ontologies using ontology mappings and knowledge graph embeddings + +No matter how hard we try to reconcile our ontologies -- for example, as part of efforts such as the [OBO Foundry](https://obofoundry.org/) -- +there will always be some level of overlap between them, i.e. the same terms existing in multiple ontologies. +Data is regularly linked to concepts from different (sometimes internal, non-public) ontologies, and this data needs to be integrated – +which means that the different ontologies need to be carefully aligned. +Furthermore, we want to be able to enrich our own ontologies with information (such as synonyms) from and links to other public sources. + +Ontology and Knowledge Graph Matching seeks to find ways to link terms between ontologies, +employing techniques such as string-based matching, graph-based matching or more advanced techniques from Natural Language Processing (NLP). +Recently, Machine Learning (ML) algorithms and Knowledge Graph embeddings have been used to greatly enhance traditional mapping techniques, and we expect a lot more to come here. +Ontology Merging is concerned with combining two ontologies in a way that the resulting whole is consistent, yet richly axiomatised, and uses approaches from formal logic to Bayesian. +Ontology Engineering is the “art” of evolving an ontology in a sustainable way, +for example using design patterns, logical reasoning and more classical visualisation approaches focused on manual curation and automated quality control. + +With SymbiOnt, we bring together techniques from all of the above to provide a fully executable workflow for ontology merging and augmentation. +The goal is to combine tools and techniques in a Docker-based workflow that enables the end-to-end merging and augmentation of ontologies. +For example, we want to be able to combine the many existing disease ontologies and terminologies into a rich coherent framework +and keep them synchronised with minimal human curation effort. + +The SymbiOnt project is led by [Nico Matentzoglu](https://github.com/matentzn).