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The nano-TAB specification is intended to facilitate the submission and exchange of nanomaterial descriptions and characterization data (metadata and summary data) along with the other files (raw/derived data files, image files, protocol documents, etc.) among individual researchers and to/from nanotechnology resources like the NCI’s cancer Nanotechnology Laboratory (caNanoLab) portal \[42\] and the Nanomaterial-Biological Interactions (NBI) knowledgebase \[53\].  Nano-TAB also serves to empower organizations to adopt standard methods for representing data in nanotechnology publications; and to provide researchers with guidelines for representing nanomaterials and characterizations to achieve cross-material comparison.

The caBIG® (cancer Bioinformatics Grid) LS DAM \[64\] provides a shared view of the semantics of the life sciences domains that are represented by the different workspaces in the caBIG infrastructure. It has a nanotechnology  subdomain, which was developed based on caNanoLab object model and NPO terms. LS DAM makes a distinction between biospecimens (for example, cell line, tissue samples, body fluid samples, organ parts) and materials that are not derived from a cell, tissue, organ, or body (for example, nanoparticle formulations, drug formulations, solvent, and so forth). This motivated the use of the term “material sample” in the nano-TAB material file.  Weekly Nano WG web-conferencing was used to ensure the alignment of nano-TAB with the LS DAM.   

NanoParticle Ontology (NPO) \[75\] is an ontology that is designed and developed within the framework of the Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) \[86\] and implemented in the ontology web language (OWL) \[97\]. It is being developed to represent the knowledge underlying the description, preparation, and characterization of nanomaterials. NPO development began with the representation of knowledge underlying the chemical composition, preparation, physiochemical, and functional/biological characterization of nanoparticles that are formulated and tested for applications in cancer diagnostics and therapeutics. The NPO provided the knowledge framework for developing the nano-TAB material file format. The NPO provides a subset of the terms and relationships for the description and characterization of nanomaterials in the nano-TAB file format.  The NPO is being further developed for the following purposes: (1) to provide terms for annotating nanotechnology research data; (2) to provide the knowledge framework required for developing data-sharing models and standards in nanomedicine; (3) to enable semantic integration of data; (4) to enable unambiguous interpretation of the description and characterization of nanomaterials; and (5) to enable knowledge-based searching  and comparison of nanomaterial descriptions and characterization results.

Once the nano-TAB files have been created, the files can be validated and submitted into nanotechnology resources that support the nano-TAB specification.  It is anticipated that validation of the files may occur via a validation service that leverages a modified version of the ISA-TAB validator \[108\].  It is also anticipated that nanotechnology resources like caNanoLab, the Nanomaterial-Biological Interactions (NBI) knowledgebase ([http://nbi.oregonstate.edu/]), and other resources will provide facilities for importing/exporting nano-TAB files as the nano-TAB specification evolves.