Enabling legacy software tool as a grid service for biomedical research

This thesis describes the experience in enabling a legacy application as a grid service. The work presented here describes an attempt to achieve semantic integration when enabling legacy applications into a grid environment. The author successfully achieved semantic integration of GeneHunter within the caBIG grid at the silver level by creating a new UML model, LinkageX, for the LINKAGE data format. The LinkageX UML model has been published in the caDSR and it is publically available for usage with GeneHunter or any other program using this data format. As a result of this work it was concluded that while achieving semantic interoperability is still a difficult and time consuming task, the tools available in caBIG can greatly enhance productivity and decrease errors. The benefits in achieving semantic interoperability of legacy tools and data sources justify the additional work required.