iCyrus: A Semantic Framework for Biomedical Image Discovery

Images have an irrefutably central role in scientific discovery and discourse. However, the issues associated with knowledge management and utility operations unique to image data are only recently gaining recognition. In our previous work, we have developed Yale Image finder (YIF), which is a novel Biomedical image search engine that indexes around two million biomedical image data, along with associated metadata. While YIF is considered to be a veritable source of easily accessible biomedical images, there are still a number of usability and interoperability challenges that have yet to be addressed. To overcome these issues and to accelerate the adoption of the YIF for next generation biomedical applications, we have developed a publically accessible semantic API for biomedical images with multiple modalities. The core API called iCyrus is powered by a dedicated semantic architecture that exposes the YIF content as linked data, permitting integration with related information resources and consumption by linked data-aware data services. To facilitate the adhoc integration of image data with other online data resources, we also built semantic web services for iCyrus, such that it is compatible with the SADI semantic web service framework. The utility of the combined infrastructure is illustrated with a number of compelling use cases and further extended through the incorporation of Domeo, a well known tool for open annotation. Domeo facilitates enhanced search over the images using annotations provided through crowdsourcing. The iCyrus triplestore currently holds more than thirty-five million triples and can be accessed and operated through syntactic or semantic query interfaces. Core features of the iCyrus API, namely: data reusability, system interoperability, semantic image search, automatic update and dedicated semantic infrastructure make iCyrus a state of the art resource for image data discovery and retrieval. Demo Page: http://cbakerlab.unbsj.ca:8080/icyrus/