Research Article

Taverna: lessons in creating a workflow environment for the life sciences

  1. Tom Oinn1,
  2. Mark Greenwood2,*,
  3. Matthew Addis3,
  4. M. Nedim Alpdemir2,
  5. Justin Ferris3,
  6. Kevin Glover4,
  7. Carole Goble2,
  8. Antoon Goderis2,
  9. Duncan Hull2,
  10. Darren Marvin3,
  11. Peter Li5,
  12. Phillip Lord2,
  13. Matthew R. Pocock5,
  14. Martin Senger1,
  15. Robert Stevens2,
  16. Anil Wipat5,
  17. Chris Wroe2

Article first published online: 13 DEC 2005

DOI: 10.1002/cpe.993

Issue

Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience

Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience

Special Issue: Workflow in Grid Systems

Volume 18, Issue 10, pages 1067–1100, 25 August 2006

Additional Information

How to Cite

Oinn, T., Greenwood, M., Addis, M., Alpdemir, M. N., Ferris, J., Glover, K., Goble, C., Goderis, A., Hull, D., Marvin, D., Li, P., Lord, P., Pocock, M. R., Senger, M., Stevens, R., Wipat, A. and Wroe, C. (2006), Taverna: lessons in creating a workflow environment for the life sciences. Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience, 18: 1067–1100. doi: 10.1002/cpe.993

Author Information

  1. 1

    EMBL European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, U.K.

  2. 2

    School of Computer Science, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, U.K.

  3. 3

    IT Innovation Centre, University of Southampton, Southampon SO16 7NP, U.K.

  4. 4

    School of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG8 1BB, U.K.

  5. 5

    School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle NE1 7RU, U.K.

*School of Computer Science, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, U.K.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 19 JUL 2006
  2. Article first published online: 13 DEC 2005
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 27 APR 2005
  4. Manuscript Revised: 30 MAR 2005
  5. Manuscript Received: 1 JUN 2004

Funded by

  • U.K. e-Science Programme Project myGrid. Grant Number: EPSRC GR/R67743/01
  • U.K. e-Science Programme Project Link-Up. Grant Number: EPSRC GR/S84965/01
  • The Wellcome Foundation. Grant Number: G/R:1061183

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Keywords:

  • scientific workflow;
  • Semantic Grid environment;
  • life sciences;
  • Web services

Abstract

Life sciences research is based on individuals, often with diverse skills, assembled into research groups. These groups use their specialist expertise to address scientific problems. The in silico experiments undertaken by these research groups can be represented as workflows involving the co-ordinated use of analysis programs and information repositories that may be globally distributed. With regards to Grid computing, the requirements relate to the sharing of analysis and information resources rather than sharing computational power. The myGrid project has developed the Taverna Workbench for the composition and execution of workflows for the life sciences community. This experience paper describes lessons learnt during the development of Taverna. A common theme is the importance of understanding how workflows fit into the scientists' experimental context. The lessons reflect an evolving understanding of life scientists' requirements on a workflow environment, which is relevant to other areas of data intensive and exploratory science. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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