shared services for life-science

The recent development of high throughput –omics and imaging technology enabled research on patient stratification based on the data-driven identification of complex biomarker profiles, using machine learning algorithms.
This ‘personalized’ or ‘stratified’ medicine approach requires new study designs and new services to the collection and processing of data, raising a series of challenges for the investigators. This open call will offer advice on the planning of such studies:
- Data collection: stratification may be based on either retrospective or prospective data collection, from either observational or interventional studies, and from national or multinational sources, raising issues like the reuse of sensitive clinical research data (cohorts, trials), cross-border transfer of data and biosamples, and biosample analysis.
- Data management: multimodal data analyses require the use of secure, multimodal data management environments able to combine clinical and –omics data, as well as imaging data. In particular proteomic and metabolomic profiles contain phenotypic information of high predictive value. Various solutions may be proposed (XNAT for images, TransMART and c-Bioportal for omics, etc.).
- Artificial intelligence stratification algorithms are used for data-driven identification of patients subgroups, or for developing new disease taxonomy.
- Subsequent clinical evidence may be derived from innovative trial designs (e.g. umbrella trials) testing the relevance of the patient stratification and the best adapted treatment strategies.

To that end the four Research Infrastructures BBMRI, EATRIS, ECRIN and Euro-BioImaging will offer expert advice on project planning, including:
- Design and methodology
- Regulatory, ethical, data protection context
- Multinational data collection
- Sharing and reuse of sensitive clinical research data, from retrospective or prospective studies
- Multimodal data management
- AI algorithms

You should choose Access Track 5 in your application if you need e.g. integrated access to biosamples, imaging and multimodal analysis; the four research infrastructures BBMRI-ERIC, EATRIS, ECRIN and Euro-BioImaging can support you for the design and the implementation of your research project in biomarker identification or validation (restrospective or prospective studies).

In case of questions please contact the Access Track leader Dr. Serena Battaglia.