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The DATAbiotech website created by two Italian economics professors can simplify the task of tracking information on biotechnology companies and publications. Ernst & Young counts about 4,400 biotechnology companies in Asia, Europe, and North America, and tracking the companies, their activities, and achievements is not easy. The difficulty increases when trying to integrate the information with the rapidly expanding body of biomedical literature (which grows by 1,000 new peer-reviewed articles each day, says the Public Library of Science). After having written reports for the European Union Commission and realizing that all the information needed is difficult to get, Fabio Pammolli and Massimo Riccaboni of the University of Florence faculty became convinced that a collection was needed. The idea culminated with the launch recently of the DATAbiotech website, which includes the BIObase and BIOsurveys. BIObase offers more than 30,000 entries from companies and research organizations, including universities. BioSurveys visualizes relationships between data in BIObase. The site will be kept current by ATA (Advanced Technology Assessment, which was founded by the two professors) and contributors. Also highlighted are other groups trying to build databases of life-science information, including those at Thomson and Google.
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Information Sources, Inc.
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