Elsevier and Seven Bridges Receive NIH Data Commons Grant for Biomedical Data Analysis

NEW YORK, November 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Elsevier and Seven Bridges Genomics announced today that The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded them a grant for the development of a comprehensive, open-source data analysis ecosystem as part of its Data Commons Pilot Phase. The project is designed to improve data efficiency and reliability for the over 70,000 biomedicine researchers in the U.S.

Dubbed "FAIR4CURES", the project will provide tools, data and workflows, based on the Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) principles.

Dr. Paul Groth, Director Elsevier Labs, said; "Just like Fair Trade helps us know that our food is high quality and properly sourced, having data that is FAIR, including its provenance, helps us know that data is quality and reusable."

Using FAIR principals, the project will make biomedical data more Collaborative, Usable, Reproducible, Extendable and Scalable (CURES), by employing a scalable infrastructure, using interoperable standards for the integration and analysis of diverse data types, and providing workspaces with secure and controlled access protocols. To this end, the project will leverage Mendeley Data, Elsevier's secure cloud-based data repository.

Ensuring the availability of reproducible data saves time and money in the research process. The Elsevier contribution will focus on an open-source tool to create and broker global unique identifiers. This component and the schema it is based on will integrate with the rest of the components developed by the FAIR4CURES team, and be interoperable with the tools and schemas developed by the other awardees, leading to a better infrastructure for reproducible biomedical data.

The FAIR4CURES collaboration is headed by Seven Bridges, the leading biomedical data analysis company. Seven Bridges is responsible for the overall project and will leverage its experience building the NCI Cancer Genomics Cloud and its existing cloud infrastructure for biomedical data analysis to deliver the NIH Data Commons pilot. Other participants include U.K.-based genomic data provider Repositive, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Boston VA Research Institute.

For Elsevier's Research Data Management group, FAIR4CURES presents a unique opportunity to collaborate with leaders in a multifaceted, multi-stakeholder project to help to shape the infrastructure for biomedical open science.

Anita de Waard, VP Research Data Collaborations at Elsevier, said: "By participating in the Data Commons Pilot we hope to contribute a key component towards making science more interoperable. It will also help create a better understanding of the needs of connected biomedical researchers, as well as forge collaboration relationships with key innovators building biomedical infrastructure today."

About Seven Bridges 

Seven Bridges is the biomedical data analysis company accelerating breakthroughs in genomics research for cancer, drug development, and precision medicine. Thousands of researchers in government, biotech, pharmaceutical, and academic labs use Seven Bridges, including global pharmaceutical companies and national genomics projects such as the U.S. National Cancer Institute's Cancer Genomics Cloud pilot, the Million Veteran Program, and Genomics England's 100,000 Genomes Project.

About Elsevier 

Elsevier is a global information analytics business that helps institutions and professionals progress science, advance healthcare and improve performance for the benefit of humanity. Elsevier provides digital solutions and tools in the areas of strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support, and professional education; including ScienceDirect, Scopus, Scival, ClinicalKey and Sherpath. Elsevier publishes over 2,500 digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell, more than 35,000 e-book titles and many iconic reference works, including Gray's Anatomy. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professionals and business customers across industries. www.elsevier.com

Media contact
Sacha Boucherie
Global Communications Elsevier
+31-204853564
s.boucherie@elsevier.com