PROMOT Ontology V1 Now Live on BioPortal: A Major Milestone for the PROMOT Initiative
We are pleased to announce an important milestone for the PROMOT initiative: PROMOT Ontology Version 1 has been officially accepted by BioPortal and is now publicly accessible online.
The PROMOT Ontology is being developed to support the project’s Common Data Model (CDM) by providing a shared, structured way of representing clinical information across the sites participating in PROMOT. By establishing a common language for describing diseases, clinical features, and other relevant patient information, the ontology will help enable the integration and harmonization of data across sites and contribute to PROMOT’s broader goal of supporting Master Observational Trials (MOT) in rare neuromuscular diseases.
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Reaching Version 1: From development to validation
The release of Version 1 on BioPortal marks an important milestone in the ongoing development of the PROMOT Ontology. Over the course of the project, the ontology has been built through an iterative process of development, expert review, mapping, and refinement.
The recent phase of work represented the final steps toward Version 1, with a particular focus on validating ontology elements, reviewing mappings to established standards, and ensuring that the ontology was aligned with the evolving requirements of the PROMOT CDM.
This validation process was essential to ensure that the ontology can accurately represent clinically meaningful information across the neuromuscular diseases included in the PROMOT MOT, while also supporting interoperability and future reuse. The resulting Version 1 brings together this work into a structured resource that can now be accessed and explored by the broader research community.
From ontology development to publication
The publication of Version 1 on BioPortal is an important step, but the development of the PROMOT Ontology will continue. The ontology has also been submitted to the OBO Foundry, where it is currently pending review. In parallel, a manuscript describing the development of the PROMOT Ontology is undergoing final review prior to submission for publication.
The ontology is also available through the GitHub repository, with accompanying documentation to be made available soon. These resources will provide researchers and other interested users with additional information to understand, explore, and build upon the ontology.
As the PROMOT project progresses, the ontology will continue to evolve alongside the CDM. New requirements, feedback, and insights from the project’s ongoing work will help inform future updates.
Together, these developments represent an important contribution to PROMOT’s efforts to establish the data infrastructure needed to support MOTs and advance data harmonization in rare neuromuscular disease research.
Acknowledgements
This milestone reflects the commitment, expertise, and collaboration of the PROMOT ontology team. We would like to warmly acknowledge Juliette Potier, Carole Faviez, Cynthia Gagnon, Anita Burgun, Daniel Natera-de Benito, and Elizabeth Angelevski for their significant contributions to the development, review, and refinement of the PROMOT Ontology V1.
Congratulations to the entire team on reaching this important milestone!
