The EGA holds approximately half a petabyte of data, and this volume is growing rapidly. These data are a goldmine for biomedical researchers, and it is imperative that the archive continues to run smoothly and can grow to meet demand. This Pilot Action demonstrated how ELIXIR Nodes can support one another in expanding Europe’s bioinformatics capacity.
The EGA facilitates biomedical discoveries by enabling the secure sharing of research data that matches genetic information to disease characteristics. It is strictly governed by the data access committees (DACs) associated with each study, and is highly protective of deposited information.
An impressive amount of work has gone into creating protein and protein expression resources in Europe, each of which contains valuable information for biomedical research. Navigating seamlessly between these resources would be invaluable for scientists who need to make informed decisions about their research into new drug targets and are exploring links between different proteins in healthy and diseased tissues.
Bioinformatics resources can contain several petabytes (1015 bytes) of data, and downloading these for analysis behind a firewall is often necessary. But the task of transferring them is subject to the vagaries of web traffic, which can be slow and unpredictable.
Scientists often wish to compare their research results with large reference datasets, but do not have the capacity to download or manage such massive files locally. The ELIXIR-facing cloud will allow researchers to create a virtual working environment right next to the reference data, with seamless access through their host institute.
In January 2017, ELIXIR extended its collaboration with GA4GH to further drive the development and implementation of the Beacon technology across ELIXIR Nodes. This study complated a number of tasks:
The ELIXIR Hub is seeking a highly motivated individual with a strong interest in and experience of life-science data resources to join the ELIXIR Hub as scientific coordinator for the ELIXIR Data Platform.
The ELIXIR Data Platform brings together the life science data resources from ELIXIR’s national nodes and drives their integration and sustainability. This includes developing formalised criteria and indicators for Core Data resources, promoting excellence in resource development and increasing the sustainability of resources through literature-data integration and resource cross-linking.
As coordinator you would work closely with and support our international scientific leadership team for the Data Platform. Your main task will be to provide day-to-day management and coordination. You will support our long-term planning and drive the development and implementation of a project portfolio to support ELIXIR Data’s Resources.
You will work with the scientists and technical experts at our 140 partner institutes across ELIXIR Nodes to ensure interoperable and long-term development of ELIXIR’s Data resources. You will oversee our technical planning, implementation, document progress and impact assessment by establishing and monitoring performance, quality and impact indicators.
