NeuroExtract: Facilitating Neuroscience-oriented Retrieval from Broadly-focused Bioscience Databases Using Text-based Query Mediation

This paper describes NeuroExtract, a pilot system which facilitates the integrated retrieval of Internet-based information relevant to the neurosciences. The approach involved extracting descriptive metadata from the sources using domain-specific queries; retrieving, processing, and organizing the data into structured text files; searching the data files using text-based queries; and, providing the results in a Web page along with descriptions to entries and URL links to the original sources. NeuroExtract has been implemented for three bioscience resources, SWISSPROT, GEO, and PDB, which provide neuroscience-related information as sub-topics. We discuss several issues that arose in the course of NeuroExtract’s implementation. This project is a first step in exploring how this general approach might be used, in conjunction with other query mediation approaches, to facilitate the integration of many Internet-accessible resources relevant to the neurosciences.