Enabling collaborative research using the Biomedical Informatics Research Network (BIRN)
- Karl G Helmer1,2,
- Jose Luis Ambite3,
- Joseph Ames4,
- Rachana Ananthakrishnan5,6,
- Gully Burns3,
- Ann L Chervenak3,
- Ian Foster5,6,
- Lee Liming5,6,
- David Keator4,
- Fabio Macciardi4,
- Ravi Madduri5,6,
- John-Paul Navarro5,6,
- Steven Potkin4,7,
- Bruce Rosen1,2,
- Seth Ruffins8,9,
- Robert Schuler3,
- Jessica A Turner10,
- Arthur Toga8,
- Christina Williams3,
- Carl Kesselman3,
- for the Biomedical Informatics Research Network
- 1Athinoula A Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- 2Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- 3Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California, Marina del Rey, California, USA
- 4Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
- 5Mathematics and Computer Science (MCS) Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois, USA
- 6Computation Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- 7Brain Imaging Center, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
- 8Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, Department of Neurology, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA
- 9Biological Imaging Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
- 10The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
- Correspondence to Karl G Helmer, Athinoula A Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 - 13th St Room 2301, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; helmer{at}nmr.mgh.harvard.edu
- Received 2 October 2010
- Accepted 24 March 2011
- Published Online First 22 April 2011
Abstract
Objective As biomedical technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, researchers can probe ever more subtle effects with the added requirement that the investigation of small effects often requires the acquisition of large amounts of data. In biomedicine, these data are often acquired at, and later shared between, multiple sites. There are both technological and sociological hurdles to be overcome for data to be passed between researchers and later made accessible to the larger scientific community. The goal of the Biomedical Informatics Research Network (BIRN) is to address the challenges inherent in biomedical data sharing.
Materials and methods BIRN tools are grouped into ‘capabilities’ and are available in the areas of data management, data security, information integration, and knowledge engineering. BIRN has a user-driven focus and employs a layered architectural approach that promotes reuse of infrastructure. BIRN tools are designed to be modular and therefore can work with pre-existing tools. BIRN users can choose the capabilities most useful for their application, while not having to ensure that their project conforms to a monolithic architecture.
Results BIRN has implemented a new software-based data-sharing infrastructure that has been put to use in many different domains within biomedicine. BIRN is actively involved in outreach to the broader biomedical community to form working partnerships.
Conclusion BIRN's mission is to provide capabilities and services related to data sharing to the biomedical research community. It does this by forming partnerships and solving specific, user-driven problems whose solutions are then available for use by other groups.
- Genomics
- statistical genetics
- bioinformatics
- complex traits
- data
- machine learning
- data sharing
- information integration
- data mediation
- data security
- data management
- knowledge engineering
Footnotes
-
Funding BIRN is supported by grants from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) through the following grants: U24-RR025736, U24-RR021992, and U24-RR021760. The outreach portion of BIRN is supported through U24-RR026057-01. Some of the knowledge engineering work is supported though a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS; RO1 GM083871) and the National Science Foundation (grant 0849977), and through the Kinetics and Michael J. Fox Foundations.
-
Competing interests None.
-
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
