Connecting complex health datasets for research and translational impact
A secure, interconnected approach to managing massive health datasets is enabling Australian researchers to accelerate the path from biological discovery to clinical treatment across multiple disease areas. By establishing shared digital infrastructure for complex genomic, multi-omic, and clinical data, national research teams can now pool resources, protect sensitive information, and collaborate at an unprecedented scale.
The open-source data platform, Gen3, is able to support robust data ecosystems that are tailor-made for their users. Australian BioCommons is supporting multiple deployments through the GUARDIANS Program, helping national consortia management and share their human omics data holdings between research collaborators.
Originally developed at the University of Chicago to power National Institutes of Health (NIH) initiatives, Gen3 provides a secure and scalable framework to receive, manage, and describe large-scale datasets while ensuring secure, governed access for authorised users. BioCommons helped establish the international Gen3 Community Forum, and regularly interacts with the rapidly growing community of people wrangling large and complex research datasets in the cloud.
Prof Bernard Pope, GUARDIANS Program Lead and A/Director (Human Genome Informatics) at Australian BioCommons, highlights the value of this approach:
‘Data commons are a key factor in impactful and collaborative genomic research. The ability to securely connect, govern, and analyse large datasets is increasingly important for translating research into meaningful clinical and health outcomes.’
‘Through the GUARDIANS Program, we have leveraged the capabilities of the Gen3 platform, which has already extensively been used by researchers on the global scale, to ensure Australian researchers have the tools to effectively work with the available genomic data.’
How is Gen3 being used in Australian health research?
BioCommons is implementing Gen3 platforms for multiple landmark national projects, demonstrating its versatility across diverse data types and research fields:
Australian Cardiovascular disease Data Commons (ACDC): Led by the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, the ACDC securely pools multi-omics data, longitudinal outcomes, and imaging from approximately 400,000 individuals across 18 Australian cohorts to discover new risk markers for heart attacks
Biological Psychiatry Data Commons (BPsyc-DC): Developed in partnership with the Consortium for Preclinical Psychiatric Research (CPPR), the BPsyc-DC will provide a national digital infrastructure to harmonise multi-omics data across cellular, animal, and human models of psychiatric disorders
Px4 Health: Led by the University of Melbourne, Px4 Health utilises cutting edge multi-omics technology and deep phenotyping to deliver an Australian first for personalised medicine. By providing a secure, end-to-end data solution, Px4 Health is underpinning major clinical initiatives in rare and chronic disease, as well as establishing a baseline of health data on a cross section of the community.
Supported by recent additional NCRIS funding, GUARDIANS will implement additional data commons to expand participation for new priority health areas.
Register for the upcoming webinar ‘Launching the Australian Cardiovascular disease Data Commons’
Read more about the Biological Psychiatry Data Commons
