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The Minimum Information About a Bioactive Entity (MIABE)

Introduction to MIABE

The work on MIABE was initiated as part of the EMBL-EBI Industry Programme and carried out by EMBL-EBI and the PSI-MI work group. The Proteomics Standards Initiative (PSI) aims to define community standards for data representation in proteomics to facilitate data comparison, exchange and verification. For detailed information on all PSI activities, please see PSI Home Page. Drug-target interactions may be regarded as a form of molecular interactions and as such, the Molecular Interaction workgroup has become involved in this project.

The PSI-MI format is a standardized means of representing molecular interaction data and is designed to facilitate the exchange of information between different databases and/or LIMS systems. PSI-MI is not a proposed database structure. The PSI-MI format consists of the PSI-MI XML2.5 schema and the accompanying controlled vocabulary. The controlled vocabulary has been updated with many terms appropriate for the description of drugs, drug targets and the interactions they make.

The Minimum Information about a Bioactive Entity is available for public comment. MIABE is intended to be used as a guideline which should be consulted prior to the publication of data describing small molecules and their interactions with one or more target molecules.

Why do we need publication standards?

  • Database representation of pharma/bioceutical data is increasingly seen as essential for target validation/new lead identification
  • Data needs to be accurately and fully reported to enable curation/text-mining
  • Any report SHOULD allow repeat and/or reanalysis of published data – but frequently essential information is missing
  • Researchers perceived the need to define the Minimum information which should be included in a paper/deposition describing the properties or action of a bio(in)active molecule

Scope of MIABE

  • Entity types – small molecules, therapeutic proteins, peptides and antibodies, carbohydrates
  • Drugs, herbicides, pesticides, nutraceuticals
    • Pre-clinical (or equivalent) data only – clinical data well regulated, documentation defined (though little published), would require separate document written by specialists
    • This is NOT a SOP/prescriptive list/attempt to dictate experimental procedure – it IS a simple checklist of information to include in one or more final publications

The MIABE Document 

The MIABE paper was published in August 2011 by Nature Reviews Drug Discovery

MIABE parent doc is attached here