GEML (
Genetic Expression Markup Language)is the new
standard (as of November 2000) intended to rationalize the way in which
genetic information is stored, or according to the GEML website, (www.geml.org) -'to provide a standard method of exchanging gene expression data along with the associated gene and experiment annotation'. Created by
Rosetta Inpharmatics it is being supported by
Harvard University,
Agilent Technologies,
Spotfire and
Europroteome, amongst others. The format was developed with several objectives in mind. It needed to:
Have an intuitive, machine and human readable structure
Be hierarchical and flexible (XML)
Allow for expression data and annotation interchange
Accommodate industry leading data formats
Accommodate rich annotation
Support freeware conversion tools
Support freeware analysis tools
The GEML format is also designed to be programme independent, serving as a general-purpose data format for exchanging information among different programs and databases. A major advantage of the GEML format is that it supports information from file formats for a variety of genomics systems and related data collection methodologies. Some of these systems and methodologies include:
SAGE
TaqMan
nylon filter arrays
1-color or 2-color fluorescent labeling and scanning
Absolute or relative intensity measurements
For more information about GEML, the DTD and Tag listings see http://www.geml.org/techpubs.htm
I'm just wondering how long it will take M$ to release a totallly incompatible proprietry version that will be forced on these companies....but then I'ma bit of a cynic