ELIXIR and OncoTrack, an Innovative Medicine Initiative (IMI) project to improve the diagnosis and treatment of colon cancer, are working together on a joint feasibility project to explore options for provision of long-term storage and data discovery service for data generated within the project.
OncoTrack pioneers the use of large-scale genomics to improve the early diagnosis of colon cancer, which may increase the chances of survival and successful treatment. ELIXIR could help the project to store and manage the research and clinical data it generates, by ensuring it is deposited safely and securely in the European Genome-Phenome Archive (EGA, a public archive run jointly by EMBL-EBI and CRG). At the same time, ELIXIR and OncoTrack are also exploring options for long-term management of integrated translational data in TranSMART.
As a service for the permanent archiving and distribution of personally identifiable genomics and phenotypic data, storage in EGA would ensure that OncoTrack data are securely stored and released only to bona fine researchers, following an access review. During the review, an OncoTrack Data Access Committee would assess all requests to access the data with respect to the consent given by participants of each individual study.
Helen Parkinson, Head of the Molecular Archive Cluster at EMBL-EBI, said: “EGA is a central infrastructure for secure management of sensitive data and forms the backbone of ELIXIR services in Human data.” The ELIXIR-OncoTrack joint project will generate proposals for data deposition and storage, together with the data access committee governance that oversees the data access requests. The goal is to provide a model solution for public-private partnerships.
Niklas Blomberg, ELIXIR Director said: ”We are delighted to collaborate with OncoTrack, a shining example of the potential that big data has for advancing medical knowledge. This collaboration could provide a model for how translational data can be made available for long term re-use by the biomedical research community.
About OncoTrack
IMI OncoTrack, Methods for systematic next generation oncology biomarker development, is an international consortium of 22 multidisciplinary partners across academia, pharma industry and SMEs. Supported by the Innovative Medicines Initiative, it is one of Europe’s largest collaborative academic-industry research projects to develop and access novel approaches for identification of new markers for colon cancer and increase its early diagnosis and treatment.
IMI OncoTrack is coordinated by Bayer and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics and has a budget of over €30 million.