The need for a biological registration system.

A biological registration system is capable of determining whether two complex biological molecules are the same or different, and can assign identifiers based on this determination. Although such systems are frequently employed by chemists, they are rarely used by biological scientists in the pharmaceutical industry. However, a biological registration system would have several enterprise-wide benefits, from R&D to IP to laboratory safety. Beyond these evident benefits, a biological registration system that integrates appropriately with other systems such as electronic laboratory notebooks and inventory databases could provide critical links to allow the integration of otherwise-siloed data and knowledge generated across global pharmaceutical companies and other large research institutions. Data and knowledge integration are widely recognized as critical yet elusive components of effective translational science and systems biology programs that would create greater efficiencies for drug discovery. However, determining the optimal construction of such systems remains a challenge. This feature review describes how a special interest group comprising several pharmaceutical companies and a software company was used to create a commercially viable and supportable system.