Common Fund Data Ecosystem | NIH Common Fund

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The Common Fund Data Ecosystem (CFDE) aims to enable broad use of Common Fund data to accelerate discovery. Common Fund programs generate a wide range of diverse and valuable data sets and knowledge designed to be used by the research community. However, these data and knowledge reside in different locations, and it is challenging to work with multiple digital resources in an accessible and user-friendly way. To help remedy this problem, the CFDE created an online discovery portal (CFDE Portal) in its first phase to help make Common Fund data sets FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) and to enable researchers to search across Common Fund data sets to ask scientific and clinical questions from a single access point.

Throughout its first phase, the CFDE Coordinating Center oversaw CFDE activities and worked closely with participating data coordinating centers from other Common Fund programs to build the data ecosystem. As the CFDE enters its second phase, the diversity of expertise needed to coordinate CFDE actives is increasing, and the program is restructuring to accommodate these new needs. In Phase 2, the CFDE will be structured around the following five centers:

The Data Resource Center (DRC) will create a portal to enable users to query and use the data sets and other digital resources from across Common Fund programs
The Knowledge Center (KC) will create a knowledge network to integrate knowledge generated by Common Fund programs
The Cloud Workspace Implementation Center (CWIC) will support cloud computing activities in select cloud workspaces
The Center for Training will coordinate the training efforts of the CFDE consortium to allow any researcher, regardless of experience, to engage with CFDE tools and resources.
The Integration and Coordination Center will support integrating CFDE-related activities between the CFDE Centers and Common Fund data coordinating centers and perform evaluation activities

The CFDE Portal will integrate resource and knowledge portals developed by the DRC and KC, and also serve as a landing page for users to access other CFDE-generated tools, resources, trainings, and guidance. Together, these resources will empower the research community to use Common Fund data sets for novel scientific research that was impossible before. This may include hypothesis generation, discovery, or validation that leads to new insights in health and disease. The CFDE is also supporting pilot projects that engage a broad community of end-users, collect feedback on the utility of Common Fund data resources, and enable novel cross-cutting biological questions to be formulated and addressed.

CFDE: Data Coordinating Center Engagement and Examples of Collaborative Use Cases

Click on the various sections of the interactive graphic below to learn about Common Fund Data Coordinating Centers (DCCs) participating in the CFDE and read about examples of use cases being developed by collaborative DCC teams. This graphic will be updated as additional DCCs join and new use cases are developed. To minimize the pop-up boxes simply click on the “X” in the upper right hand corner, or view a different pop-up box by clicking on another area of the interactive graphic.

The CFDE includes several integrated efforts:

Cloud computing

CFDE Coordinating Center – In its first phase, the CFDE Coordinating Center oversaw CFDE activities, engaged with participating Common Fund programs, connected with user communities, supported training, developed tools and standards, and provided technical expertise. These activities were conducted in close partnership with relevant Common Fund programs.
Participating Common Fund data coordinating centers (DCCs) – The DCCs are working with the CFDE Coordinating Center to understand their programs’ unique requirements for data storage and analysis, adopt/adapt guidelines and best practices, share resources and tools with other DCCs, develop use cases for cross-data analyses, and provide training. In January 2020, the Common Fund released an Engagement Opportunity Announcement for eligible DCCs to engage with the CFDE Coordinating Center and other DCCs to establish the CFDE. For more details, please view the Engagement Opportunity Announcement and Process for Rolling Submission of Engagement Opportunity Award Plans.
Enhancing the Utility of Common Fund Data Sets (pilot projects) – The CFDE is supporting pilot projects where researchers develop new tools or methods to enhance the value of CF data sets, add useful information to existing CF data sets, or combine multiple CF data sets to answer biologically relevant questions that could not be answered with just one data set. These projects will enhance the use of CF data sets by engaging new end-users, obtaining feedback to help improve the CFDE portal (and DCC portals), and enabling novel cross-cutting biological questions to be formulated and addressed. Please see the Funded Research page for more details about funded pilot projects.

Currently, there are 13 Common Fund programs that are eligible to engage with the CFDE Coordinating Center to establish the CFDE: 4D Nucleome (4DN), Acute to Chronic Pain Signatures (A2CPS), Extracellular RNA Communication (ExRNA), Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research (Kids First), Genotype Tissue Expression (GTEx), Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP), Illuminating the Druggable Genome (IDG), Knockout Mouse Phenotyping Program (KOMP2), Library of Integrated Network-based Cellular Signatures (LINCS), Metabolomics, Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC), Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions (SPARC), and Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN). These programs offer different perspectives that will enable a deeper understanding of the issues around using and integrating diverse data types, identifying mutual needs for Common Fund programs, and collaborating across programs to enhance data utility. Applying best practices and lessons learned from these partnerships, the CFDE coordinating center will expand its activities to engage with future Common Fund programs as well.

More information can be found in presentations from the NIH Council of Councils meeting where the CFDE and the ODSS efforts were discussed, the Council of Councils meeting where the concept for the DCC funding opportunity to establish the CFDE was approved, and the Council of Councils Working Group final report that will guide the next phase of the CFDE.