The bioinformatics community has developed a strong tradition of open development, code sharing, and cross-platform support, and a number of language-specific bioinformatics toolkits are now available. These toolkits serve as valuable nucleation points for the community, promoting the sharing of code and establishing de facto standards.
The Microsoft Biology Foundation (MBF) is a language-neutral bioinformatics toolkit built as an extension to the Microsoft .NET Framework. Currently it implements a range of parsers for common bioinformatics file formats; a range of algorithms for manipulating DNA, RNA, and protein sequences; and a set of connectors to biological Web services such as NCBI BLAST. MBF is available under an open source license, and executables, source code, demo applications, and documentation are freely downloadable from the link below.
About the Microsoft Biology Foundation
MBF has been constructed with specific goals in mind:
- Extensibility: MBF is designed to be extended. If you need functions that are not in the basic library, you will find them easy to implement in a way that works with the existing functions. We encourage developers who extend MBF to contribute their code back to the project as open source so that the community as a whole may benefit from their work. We also plan to continue to add features to MBF, extending it into new areas of biology and integrating it with other tools. Microsoft researchers are already using MBF in their research, as are an increasing number of academic partners; they will be making code contributions to extend the range and power of the Foundation, and we encourage you to do the same.
- Language neutrality: .NET allows different languages to be used for different purposes—so the accessibility of Visual Basic, the power of C#, the speed and conciseness of a functional language such as F#, or the ad-hoc scripting capabilities of Iron Python are all available, as are many others. Whatever .NET-supported language you choose, the code you write is compatible.
- Supporting best practices: MBF source is well-documented and designed to be a good example of how to program using C#. Algorithm implementations include a reference to the publications from which they are derived, so scientists can clearly understand what they do. In addition, MBF includes examples of how to integrate with other Microsoft technologies such as Windows Azure, Microsoft Silverlight, Microsoft Office, and the latest version of the .NET Framework.
- Cross-platform and interoperability: MBF works well on the Windows operating system and with a range of Microsoft technologies. We plan to work with the developer community to take advantage of the extensibility of MBF and support an increasing range of Microsoft and non-Microsoft tools as the project develops.
- Building community: MBF is an open source project, with code available for academic and commercial use free of charge under the OSI-approved MS-PL license. We will provide forums for help, user feedback, feature requests, and bug reporting. MBF is open to code contributions from the community, extending the range of available functionality to researchers and life scientists everywhere.
Access to MBF
The first beta version of MBF is now available! Please visit Microsoft Connect to download and participate in this exciting new program.
