If you could easily search through and analyze all biomedical research, what would you do?

Time is running out to win $500.

That’s the crux of the DBP contest for the Network of BioThings, which is closing within a mere two weeks on June 30, 2014. The $500 prize has yet to be claimed.

What is the goal of the Network of BioThings? The Network of BioThings aims to structure the biological knowledge found in biomedical research articles by comprehensively annotating BioThings (genes, proteins, mutations, diseases, drugs, etc.) in a timely fashion (one week after publication). This would allow for focused browsing as well as large-scale data mining.

What is the goal of this contest? Your challenge is to create a use case, an example of a “Driving Biological Project” which would utilized the Network of BioThings in order to make a significant impact in the scientific community. At stake is $500, which is yours to claim if you submit the winning DBP.

For this contest, you only need to share your IDEAS! Describe one way that having a Network of Biothings will help to solve a research question. The contest is to create a use case for NoB, not to help build NoB.

Some great details to include in your entry which will really flesh out your entry and make you a serious contender for the $500 prize are:

• Why is this research question important? (What is the significance and how is it measured–health, fiscal, quality of life, time impacts?)
• Why can’t this research question be solved currently? (What are the current limitations for addressing this questions)
• What types of data and metadata does the NoB need to capture? (What kind of information needs to be extracted from biomedical research articles and how might it be structured?)
• What types of relevant queries and analyses would NoB enable? (what kind of information would you need to pull from the captured and structured data in order to solve your research question?)

Of course, you are more than welcome to write more than just the answer to those questions. Those questions are only there to serve as a guide. If you still are unclear about the contest, please peruse the previous BioThings blog posts.

Ready to accept the challenge and win the $500 prize?

How to submit your contest entry:

1. Post your submission in any public online place (your own web page, blog, publicly shared google doc). One easy option is to send an email to the NoB mailing list (add the prefix “DBP contest: ” to your subject line).

2. Email the link to your submission (NOT your actual submission) to: NetworkBioThingsgmailcom. Put DBP-contest in the subject line. Include how you heard about the contest in the letter along with the link to your submission

3. The winner will need to sign a standard consulting agreement to get paid, hence, only contestants from US can claim the prize. The winning solution will be published on this blog.

4. The deadline for submission is June 30, 2014.