Translational Data Catalog

(A joint effort among IMI-FAIRplus, IMI-eTRIKS and ELIXIR-Luxembourg)

Background

Translational research scientists want to know what project study descriptions are available for disease areas and access the existing knowledge landscape. The Translational Data Catalog will be a metadata repository linking the massive data available in a global system that can be optimally leveraged to improve biomedical research. The Data Catalog will be interfaced with web-based software to enable remote, interactive data-mining such that important metadata and summaries of curated studies can be displayed. The idea would be to have a 'one stop shop' to show the datasets that are available in IMI, H2020 projects and other projects or published sources and let us help partners to promote the solution and encourage to share data. This will create value for public and private organisations/ translational researchers and drive research collaboration formation towards convergence and precision medicine.

Unique Value

There was no such thing as a Data catalog for large research initiatives such as IMI and H2020 that centralizes metadata of ongoing and past projects. It is part of the service of eTRIKS and a key deliverable of the FAIRplus project to support the FAIR data concept starting with a focus on the findability of project level metadata.

Requirements

The registry has been built up from the user perspective. Users confirm that the pilot is useful and want to give us their metadata. The framework is based on the recognition of value and the level of content. Software should meet users needs and keep it simple as possible. A scope is defined in parallel with creation of rough timeline.

Approach

We performed a lean process to generically develop the catalog based on product-solution fit interviews that revealed the value and feasibility of the approach from a technical and a data gathering angle and enabled us to build a metadata template in a joined eTRIKS-UL-ELIXIR collaboration. Next, in the FAIRplus project, this template is being further developed to adopt community accpeted data models and accommodate more use cases and data types. Alongside these developments the data catalog pilot version was developed and is getting populated gradually with more and more projects.

Impact

Data Catalog will directly impact the range of sources and ease with which projects can access data sources. With the Data Catalog, researchers will be able to create awareness and recognition of their data contribution and demonstrate value of partner projects. Users will have the opportunity to find and access selected datasets. The repository will fuel dissemination of results with better outcomes for research projects as well as driving success for patients in the medical landscape.

The support from IMI having new and retrospective projects to suggest filling in the catalog will be of great value to leverage the benefits for all stakeholders.