New open-access data resource supports collaboration in global infectious disease research

An international team of researchers has launched the Clinical Epidemiology Database, an open-access online resource enabling investigators to maximize the utility and reach of their data and to make optimal use of information released by infectious disease researchers around the world:

The development of ClinEpiDB has been led by the University of Pennsylvania’s David Roos, the E. Otis Kendall Professor of Biology in the School of Arts and Sciences, and Christian Stoeckert, research professor of genetics in Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, along with Jessica Kissinger, distinguished research professor of genetics at the University of Georgia’s Institute of Bioinformatics, and Christiane Hertz-Fowler, professor at the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Integrative Biology.

ClinEpiDB uses computational infrastructure established during the past 20 years for the Eukaryotic Pathogen Database, one of four national Bioinformatics Resource Centers for Infectious Disease supported by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, with additional support from The Wellcome Trust (UK) and others. EuPathDB is a thriving genomics resource for integrative analysis of microbial eukaryotes, such as the parasites that cause malaria, sleeping sickness, and other diseases. EuPathDB is currently accessed by more than 70,000 unique visitors monthly, from 100-plus countries around the world, and has been cited more than 13,000 times in the scientific literature to date.

A video introduction explains this powerful new tool.

"It is great to see how investments and effort directed at data being Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable, i.e. F.A.I.R, are beginning to bear fruit," said Kissinger, co-PI on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation award that funded the ClinEPi Development. "Too many important studies are buried in the scientific or medical literature and not easily accessible and reusable towards moving the frontier in the important battles related infectious disease and human health, globally. This multi-institutional, multiple-funder, interdisciplinary approach is working."

Fantastic news. Congratulations to this distinguished international team that is making a difference for their colleagues and in support of protecting public health worldwide.

Image: Distinguished Research Professor and director of the Institute of Bioinformatics, Jessica Kissinger.