Minimum Information Standards

Minimum Information (MI) standards or reporting guidelines specify the minimum amount of meta data (information) and data required to meet a specific aims or aims. Usually the aim is to provide enough meta data and data to enable the unambiguous reproduction and interpretation of an experiment. MI guidelines are normally informal human readable specifications that inform the development of formal data models (e.g. XML, UML, ontology) and data exchange formats (e.g. FuGE, MAGE-ML, MAGE-TAB, MGED-Ontology).

MI standards are developed by working bodies of practioners working in a particular scientific domain. The MI standards listed below are all from the life sciences, largely driven by the development of high throughput experimental technologies.

These MI standards groups have been brought together in 2007 to form the "Minimum Information about a Biomedical or Biological Investigation" (MIBBI) umbrella community. More information about the MIBBI initiative and the MIBBI Foundry can be found below and on the MIBBI homepage: http://mibbi.sf.net.

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MI Standards

MIAME,gene expression microarray

Minimum Information About a Microarray Experiment (MIAME) describes the Minimum Information About a Microarray Experiment that is needed to enable the interpretation of the results of the experiment unambiguously and potentially to reproduce the experiment and is aimed at facilitating the dissemination of data from microarray experiments.

MIAME contains a number of extensions to cover specific biological domains

MIAME-env, environmental genomics

MIAME-nut, nutrional genomics

MIAME-tox, toxogenomics

MIAME-Plant, plant

MIARE, RNAi experiment

Minimum Information About an RNAi Experiment (MIARE) is a data reporting guideline which describes the minimum information that should be reported about an RNAi experiment to enable the unambiguous interpretation and reproduction of the results.

MIACA, cell based assay

MIAPE, proteomic experiments

Minimal Information About a Proteomic Experiment documents describe information which should be given along with a proteomic experiment.

MIAPE CC, reporting requirements for column chromatography

MIAPE CE, reporting requirements for capillary electrophoresis

MIAPE MS, reporting requirements for mass spectrometry

MIAPE SP, reporting requirements for sample preparation and handling

MIAPE GE, reporting requirements for gel electrophoresis

MIAPE GI, reporting requirements for gel informatics

MIMX, reporting requirements for molecular interaction experiments

MIGS/MIMS, genome/metagenome sequences

This specification is being developed by the Genomic Standards Consortium

MIFlowCyt, flow cytometry

Minimum Information about a Flow Cytometry Experiment

The fundamental tenet of any scientific research is that the published results of any study have to be open to independent validation or refutation. The Minimum Information about a Flow Cytometry Experiment (MIFlowCyt) establishes the criteria to record information about the experimental overview, samples, instrumentation and data analysis. It promotes consistent annotation of clinical, biological and technical issues surrounding a flow cytometry experiment by specifying the requirements for data content and by providing a structured framework for capturing information.

More information can be found at:

• The Flow Informatics and Computational Cytometry Socienty (FICCS) MIFlowCyt wiki page.
• The Bioinformatics Standards for Flow Cytometry MIFlowCyt web page.

MISFISHIE, In Situ Hybridization and Immunohistochemistry Experiments

MIAPA, Phylogenetic Analysis

MIAO, ORF

MIAMET, METabolomics experiment

MIAFGE, Functional Genomics Experiment

MIRIAM, Minimum information requested in the annotation of biochemical models

MIRIAM, the Minimal Information Requested In the Annotation of Models, is a set of rules for curating quantitative models of biological systems.

CIMR, Core Information for Metabolomics Reporting

References

MGED The Microarray Gene Expression Data Society

(MGED) Society is an international organisation of biologists, computer scientists, and data analysts that aims to facilitate the sharing of microarray data generated by functional genomics and proteomics experiments.

HUPO-PSI HUPO Protein Standards Initiative

The HUPO Proteomics Standards Initiative (PSI) defines community standards for data representation in proteomics to facilitate data comparison, exchange and verification.

FuGE Functional Genomics Experiment

FuGE provides a model of common components in functional genomics investigations. It can be extended to develop modular data formats and provides a consistent framework to capture complete lab workflows.

MSI The Metabolomics Standards Initiative

MSI has be appointed by the Metabolomics Society to monitor, coordinate and review the efforts of working groups in specialist areas that will examine standardization and make recommendations.

MIARE, Minimum Information About an RNAi Experiment

Minimum Information About an RNAi Experiment (MIARE) is a data reporting guideline which describes the minimum information that should be reported about an RNAi experiment to enable the unambiguous interpretation and reproduction of the results.

MIFlowCyt, Minimum Information about a Flow Cytometry Experiment

Minimum Information about a Flow Cytometry Experiment (MIFlowCyt) is a data reporting guideline which describes the minimum information that should be reported about a flow cytometry experiment to enable the interpretation of the results.

Nature Community Consultation

Standards papers under consideration for publication in Nature Biotechnology.