A global consortium to promote FAIR infectious-diseases data sharing

NIH funding to develop a global Pathogen Data Network

Led by SIB in partnership with EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and numerous other global partners, this network aims to provide infrastructure, tools, training, outreach and support to FAIR infectious-diseases data sharing and reuse. It will cover diverse biodata types, including host and pathogen genomics, transcriptomics, proteins, pathways and networks, imaging and cohorts.

To better fight outbreaks and pandemics

Building upon and extending the successful COVID-19 Data Platform, the Pathogen Data Network (PDN) will cover data from highly relevant species that are pathogenic to humans along with their vectors and interactions with hosts. By providing researchers and health authorities with pathogen data notably from environmental sources, PDN aims to improve pandemic response and general outbreak surveillance on a global scale.

Picture of Aitana Neves

Everyone interested is welcome to join the PDN Open Community Forum to actively engage and provide feedback to the resources roadmap

Aitana Neves

Director of the Pathogen Data Network and Associate Director Clinical Bioinformatics at SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics

Reinforcing local data management and global data sharing

This project is funded under the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH-NIAID*) Bioinformatics Resource Program that was awarded to three initiatives. In particular, the Pathogen Data Network involves providing software that enables countries or regions to establish local data portals. The Pathogens Portal hosted at EMBL-EBI will serve as a comprehensive central interface, offering access to cohort data, images, dashboards, and more, enhancing global data sharing and communication. The Data Portal services will span all pathogens determined to be of interest to NIAID, gradually also capturing host, intermediate host and vector species of relevance to the listed pathogen species and groups. “Everyone interested is welcome to join the PDN Open Community Forum to actively engage and provide feedback to the resources roadmap”, says Aitana Neves, Director of the Pathogen Data Network and Associate Director Clinical Bioinformatics at SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics. With strong community engagement and components emphasizing the need for capacity building, local data governance and alignment with international policy, PDN will foster an integrative and participative approach to pathogen data sharing.

* This project is supported by the National Institute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U24AI183840. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Pathogen Data Network consortium

The project is coordinated by SIB together with:

  • EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) - UK
  • Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) - USA
  • The Leibniz Institute DSMZ – German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures - Germany
  • The Georgetown University in Washington DC - USA
  • Uppsala University - Sweden
  • The South African National Bioinformatics Institute (SANBI) – South Africa
  • The National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII) - Spain
  • The Arctic University of Norway (UiT) - Norway
  • The Eötvös Loránd University - Hungary
  • The Technical University of Denmark (DTU) - Denmark
  • The Erasmus University Medical Center (EMC) - Netherlands

More info on the project website and LinkedIn page.

Reference(s)

Image credit: SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics

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