Plug-and-play UMLS knowledge source server using web services and portlets.

The UMLS is large and complex and presents significant challenges in retrieving information in a comprehensive way. Typical users of the UMLSKS (UMLS Knowledge Source Server) run the gamut in terms of knowledge of the UMLS and retrieval needs from the UMLSKS. Even though we as developers of the UMLSKS have always strived to create a truly modular and flexible system, we felt that the available technology until recently was not mature enough to create a loosely coupled, plug-and-play UMLSKS. In the past year we became convinced that web services and portal technology had sufficiently matured to allow us to develop such a system. In this poster, we present the details of the new plug-and-play UMLSKS that has been in development for about a year.