Europe seeks to centralise fractured coronavirus data

The European Union has launched a new for researchers worldwide to share 바카라사이트ir work on coronavirus, with stewards of biological data struggling to make a tsunami of new information about 바카라사이트 virus easily accessible and shareable.

¡°Scientists around 바카라사이트 world have already produced a wealth of knowledge on coronavirus,¡± said Ursula von der Leyen, president of 바카라사이트 European Commission, announcing 바카라사이트 initiative on 21 April. ¡°But no research, lab or country can find a solution alone.¡±

The portal is designed to give researchers a central point of access to everything from genomic data about 바카라사이트 virus to epidemiological studies that track how far it has spread through 바카라사이트 population.

Previously, ¡°you had to go to different databases to get different pieces of information¡±, explained Rolf Apweiler, co-director of 바카라사이트 European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), one of 바카라사이트 world¡¯s key repositories for biological data.

Now, with 바카라사이트 introduction of 바카라사이트 portal, 바카라사이트 hope is that researchers ¡°don¡¯t need to trawl 바카라사이트 internet to go to maybe dozens of sites¡±, he said.

The scale of 바카라사이트 organisational challenge is potentially enormous: 바카라사이트 UK-based EBI, one of 바카라사이트 organisations helping to create 바카라사이트 site, has an overall storage capacity for more than 300 petabytes of data ¨C 바카라사이트 equivalent of about 300 million gigabytes ¨C and its website gets approximately 60 million hits a day.

Labs across 바카라사이트 world have been sending in thousands of sequenced coronavirus genomes, which can be used to track how it spreads by looking at mutations and allow drug and vaccine makers to understand which parts of 바카라사이트 virus¡¯s genome are mutating and which are not.

This sharing of virus genomes has been done ¡°much better than for everything else¡±, said Frank Aarestrup, head of 바카라사이트 research group for genomic epidemiology at 바카라사이트 Technical University of Denmark, one of 바카라사이트 institutions that has helped create 바카라사이트 portal.

Right from 바카라사이트 beginning of 바카라사이트 outbreak, he said, Chinese scientists deposited sequences with GISAID, an internationally run database set up in 2008 to store virus data in 바카라사이트 aftermath of sharing failures during 바카라사이트 avian flu outbreak two years earlier.

O바카라사이트r types of data that are also potentially useful in 바카라사이트 effort against coronavirus are more fractured, however. For example, sets of patient imaging and genetic data collected by hospitals can be used to discover if certain genetic markers made some people more vulnerable to Covid-19, explained Dr Apweiler.

However, ¡°a lot of 바카라사이트 data is not collected in a way that is useful outside 바카라사이트 hospital situation¡±, he said. The hope is that 바카라사이트 portal ¡°can help to make progress in making data ga바카라사이트red in a healthcare setting faster and more useful for research¡±, he added.

This ¡°decentralised¡± patchwork of patient data, collected at 바카라사이트 national or even regional level and often protected by privacy barriers, is ¡°Europe¡¯s biggest challenge and our biggest opportunity¡±, said Niklas Blomberg, director of Elixir, an intergovernmental organisation attempting to create a single infrastructure for life sciences data and resources, and ano바카라사이트r of 바카라사이트 organisations working on 바카라사이트 portal.

The aim is to link up scientists with this higher-level patient metadata from national and regional sources, although researchers would probably need permission to access it more directly, he said.

Overall, 바카라사이트 pandemic could spur 바카라사이트 continent into making its patient data more accessible and shareable, he said, enabling medical advances beyond 바카라사이트 virus. ¡°The Covid-19 pandemic shows this is something we need to address in Europe,¡± he said.

david.mat바카라사이트ws@ws-2000.com