Biomedical Ontologies and Controlled Vocabularies

A Community of Special Interest (COSI) of the International Society for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics (ISCB), addressing current research in the application of ontologies and the organization, presentation and dissemination of knowledge in biomedicine and the life sciences. #bioontologies on Twitter.

The Clinical and Translational Science Ontology Group (CTSOG) promotes the development and usage of standard ontologies as a catalyst for translational science. CTSOG hosts an annual workshop.

ESWC is a major venue for discussing the latest scientific results and technology innovations around semantic technologies. @eswc_conf on Twitter.

The International Conference on Biological Ontology series brings together representatives of all major communities involved in the development and application of ontologies in biomedicine and related areas. @ICBOconf on Twitter.

An international forum for the Semantic Web/Linked Data Community, bringing together researchers, practitioners and industry specialists to discuss, advance, and shape the future of semantic technologies.

​​An open, international, virtual community of practice devoted to advancing the field of ontology, ontological engineering and semantic technology, and advocating their adoption into mainstream applications and international standards. Sponsored by Ontolog:

This group develops ontologies for genomics data. Presentations are published and a listserve is available on the site.

This group focuses on the development, expansion, and quality control of the Gene Ontology. Tasks, goals, timelines, and meetings are published online.

Dr. Yongqun "Oliver" He has initiated and led the development of several community-based ontologies, including Vaccine Ontology (VO), Ontology of Adverse Events (OAE), Ontology of Genes and Genomes (OGG), and Interaction Network Ontology (INO). The He Group has also developed several tools that are widely used for ontology development and re-use, including OntoFox and Ontobee.

With focus areas in biocuration, knowledge representation and bioinformatics, one role for this group is the development of biomedical ontologies and other semantic crosswalks to link information from disparate resources.