Dovepress Data, ontologies, and exchanges of information The need to develop new data, information, and knowledge repositories, and create methods for information exchange in nanomedicine is growing rapidly. Developing biomedi- cal ontologies, essential to the semantic web, is a current approach for facilitating data exchange through common terminological references.84 Biomedical ontologies describe: concepts or classes – for instance, animals, organisms, organs, cells, molecules, proteins; their associated properties; semantic relationships and specific instances – elements, such as a specific cell or protein; and logical formalisms to interrelate the terms, properties, and instance relationships. Ontologies have been essential for managing and systematizing information and knowledge, particularly in the biomedical field.85 Ontologies are currently essential in facilitating system interoperability and information mapping, search, retrieval, extraction, and multilevel data integration.86 Two nano-related taxonomies or ontologies have already been reported: the Nanomedicine Taxonomy87 and the NanoParticle Ontology.88 In addition, there are proposals to develop domain ontologies, vocabularies, and taxonomies for topics such as cancer nanotechnology, with support from the NCI and other organizations. The NCI’s white paper83 reports various initiatives, such as an ontology for new nanomaterials, an atlas of nanotechnology, and the Nanotech Index Ontology, among others. The authors have carried out extensive research on system interoperability for biomedicine. These include syntactic and semantically focused approaches that use ontologies as conceptual references to overcome classical problems of database integration.89 The original focus in the last decade was on integration for –omics and systems biology research linked to clinical information, which can be adapted to address multilevel integration down to the nano level. There, it would need to include, for instance, the development of large repositories of nanoparticle information or new nano- ontologies – both textual and visual, including information about the shapes and volumes of structures involved in nano- level interactions. Various US research groups and labora- tories have worked on related activities, such as the Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG®)90 and caNanolab (see Appendix). By way of example, Stokes et al91 developed an integrated information management system for personalized oncology, which is an “intelligent” information system for data management and interpretation that also supports the implementation of clinical applications. International Journal of Nanomedicine 2012:7 Nanoinformatics: a new area of research in nanomedicine As stated elsewhere,81,83 there is a significant need to develop an informatics portal with facilities analogous to those used in conjunction with the Protein Data Bank. Such a portal should focus on structural models of nanomaterials to be stored, described, curated, validated, and exchanged. In addition, predictive and probabilistic models and submodels could be made available to developers and users through this portal to complement new experimental techniques and theoretical approaches. Imaging QDs are semiconductor luminescent probes for many bio- medical applications.92,93 Their various characteristics include small size (around 10 nm in diameter), high photostability, specific adjustable or selectable optical and electronic prop- erties, size-tunable light emission, superior signal bright- ness, resistance to photobleaching, and broad absorption spectra for simultaneous excitation of multiple fluorescence colors and multimodality to facilitate in vivo diagnosis – for example, for various types of cancer.21,92,93 They can be attached to targeted molecules within malignant tumors, facilitating early diagnosis and therapy, aimed at improving patient outcomes. Along this line of research, many other materials are entering clinical trial.94 Lanza et al95 have developed a nano- particle magnetic-resonance-imaging contrast agent that binds to blood vessels appearing with early tumor development. In vivo molecular imaging capabilities will enable optical biopsies, with tumors being typed and staged at the time of detection.95,96 More complete molecular characterization of lesions can enable physicians to recognize and prevent chemo- resistance. Advanced imaging combined with traditional surgical techniques for intraoperative guidance will make improved resections of cancerous tumors possible.39 Similarly, targeted gold nanoparticles can improve molecular computed-tomography (CT) imaging of cancer.97 Various reports97,98 have suggested the feasibility of cancer diagnosis in vivo by using molecular markers rather than anatomical structures, through better visualization by clini- cal CT. With nanoparticles, CT can go beyond its present structural imaging capabilities by adding functional and molecular-based imaging capacities as well. For instance, various types of nanoprobes have been developed as blood pool CT contrast agents, such as gold nanoprobes and nanotags, iodine-based emulsions, and tantalum oxide nanoparticles.97 Imaging techniques based on nanotechnological research would be less invasive and more precise than existing submit your manuscript | www.dovepress.com Dovepress 3873