3rd Tinnitus Research Initiative Meeting 24-26 June 2009, Stresa, Italy
Tinnitusbook: a proposal for an
advanced scientific web community
for tinnitus research
G. Attanasio (a,f), P. Ciccarese (b,c), E. Wu (e),
T. Clark (b,c,d), E. Pecis (f), R. Filipo(a)
a: Dept. Neurology and Otolaryngology, University La Sapienza, Rome, IT;
b: Massachusetts Gen. Hosp., Boston, MA;
c: Harvard Med. School, Boston, MA;
d: Harvard Initiative in Innovative Computing, Cambridge, MA;
e: Alzheimer Res. Forum Found., Boston, MA;
f: Acufeni.net Association onlus

Acufeni.net forum
www.acufeni.net

OUR PROJECT
To create a new interdisciplinary online
resource connecting researchers with
researchers, to facilitate rapid progress in
Tinnitus research
COMMUNITY COMMUNITY
OF PATIENTS OF SCIENTISTS

3rd Tinnitus Research Initiative Meeting 24-26 June 2009, Stresa, Italy
Building Online Communities for Scientists
Tinnitusbook: a proposal for an advanced
scientific web community for tinnitus research
Paolo Ciccarese, PhD
Mass General Hospital / Harvard Medical School
In collaboration with
paolo.ciccarese@gmail.com Alzheimer Research Forum

Alzheimer Research Forum
• Created in 1996 www.alzforum.org
• 58,000 Alzheimer Disease (AD) Related
Papers
• 1800 AD Related News Articles
• Curated 14,700 Antibodies
• 5000 Members (AD Scientists)
• 6300 Scientists’ Comments
• Over 80 live discussions
> The CNN of Alzheimer

Alzheimer Research Forum
www.alzforum.org

58,000 AD Related Papers

6300 Scientists’ Comments

Over 80 Live Discussions

ARF - People
• Executive Editor (June Kinoshita)
• 2 Managing Editors
• 3 Science Writers
• 3 Consultants (Elizabeth Wu for Knowledge Managment)
• 1 Drug Database Curator (Gwen Wong, PhD)
• 1 Event Coordinator
• 1 Web Developer
• 1 Production Assistant
• 10 Advisory Board
…and 5000 Scientists!!!

SWAN - Semantic Web
Applications in Neuromedicine
• Define Hypotheses, Claims, Research
Questions, Comments, Experiments
– To relate them in between each others
– To relate them to Gene, Protein, Antibodies,
Organisms
• Annotate Publications (manual and semi-
automatic)
• Efficient browsing of the knowledge base
• Knowledge sharing across communities

SWAN Model

http://hypothesis.alzforum.org
SWAN Homepage

SWAN Hypotheses

SWAN Hypothesis

SWAN Claim
Qualifiers
Supportive
Evidence
Relationships
with other
statements in
the KB
Lses

SWAN Graph [1]

SWAN Graph [2]

SWAN Graph [3]

Schizophrenia Research Forum

High Number of Resources
• PubMed • Reagents
• Mash Terminology • Experiments
• Entrez Gene • Neuro Imaging
• UniProt • Models
• Gene Ontology • Annotations
• Alzforum Gene • Discussions
• Alzforum Antibodies • Commentaries
• Experimental Data • …

Science Collaboration Framework
• Reusable software that can be used to
develop web-based, collaborative, scientific
communities
• Support interdisciplinary scientists in
publishing, annotating, sharing and
discussing content such as articles,
perspectives, interviews and news items, as
well as assert personal biographies and
research interests

stembook.org

stembook.org
• It is an open access collection of invited,
original, peer-reviewed chapters (46 a few
days ago) covering a range of topics related
to stem cell biology written by top
researchers in the field at the Harvard Stem
Cell Institute and worldwide.
• ISSN 1940-3429

Table of Contents

Example: Link to genes

Other Stem Book features
• eAlert
• Commenting and discussion forums
• Semiautomatic annotation of Genes in new
articles
• Access to the under-development clouds of
resources for life science (genes, proteins,
antibodies, organisms…)

PDonline.org

What we can offer
• Experience in creating and maintain online
communities
• Reusable software that can speed up the
process of creation of a new community
• Access to biomedical knowledge bases
• Access to new methods and technologies
as result of our research
• Be part of a community of communities

Thank you
• Tim Clark • Sudeshna Das
• Gwen Wong • Benjamin Melançon
• June Kinoshita
• Marco Ocana
• Elizabeth Wu
Paolo Ciccarese, PhD
paolo.ciccarese@gmail.com