BIRN Data Repository
To further promote a collaborative research environment, the BIRN has undertaken the development of the public BIRN Data Repository (BDR). This sustainable archive accepts data generated by the biomedical research community and makes these data freely available for sharing and exchange, towards fulfillment of NIH guidelines. Not only does the BDR enable the sharing of existing data, the BIRN also envisions the BDR as a mechanism to facilitate active collaborations that will lead to sharing.
Your participation will encourage scientific inquiry, enable new research exploration, and facilitate education by providing the scientific community with relevant, easily accessible data. Consider that shared data may be combined to create larger samples for increased power or employed to compare performance of analysis methods.
The NIH is actively encouraging data sharing through many avenues, including recently released Program Announcements (PAR-07-426; PAR-07-425) aimed in part to support sharing your data through the BDR.
The BDR provides the means by which to capture, curate, store, query, view, and download imaging and related human and animal data. A rich curatorial environment, built on the BIRN portal foundation, underlies the data submission process and the subsequent sharing of the data.
- Biomedical imaging data from humans and animal models are available for download with descriptive metadata, and in some cases, associated clinical, microarray, or other biomedical data.
- These data will be discoverable via a concept-based query interface and further queried and explored via a data-specific query interface.
- The BDR will work with investigators to enable data sharing, supporting NIH guidelines.
For more information related to available data resources, use of data, and the process for data sharing and submission, please contact BDR Director Christine Fennema-Notestine, Ph.D., or Submissions Coordinator Andrea Arnaud through the Inquiry site or via BDR_info@nbirn.net.