Biowep: a workflow enactment portal for bioinformatics applications

Background: The huge amount of biological information, its distribution over the Internet and the heterogeneity of available software tools makes the adoption of new data integration and analysis network tools a necessity in bioinformatics. ICT standards and tools, like Web Services and Workflow Management Systems (WMS), can support the creation and deployment of such systems. Many Web Services are already available and some WMS have been proposed. They assume that researchers know which bioinformatics resources can be reached through a programmatic interface and that they are skilled in programming and building workflows. Therefore, they are not viable to the majority of unskilled researchers. A portal enabling these to take profit from new technologies is still missing. Results: We designed biowep, a web based client application that allows for the selection and execution of a set of predefined workflows. The system is available on-line. Biowep architecture includes a Workflow Manag...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2007
• Where: BMCBI
• Authors: Paolo Romano 0001, Ezio Bartocci, Guglielmo Bertolini, Flavio De Paoli, Domenico Marra, Giancarlo Mauri, Emanuela Merelli, Luciano Milanesi
• Keywords: BMCBI 2007, Web Services, Workflow Manager, Workflows