Western Regional Biomedical CollaboratoryCreating a culture for collaboration

WRBC mission statement Create and maintain a culture of interdisciplinary

collaboration in biomedical research among universities in the Western US

Overcome challenges in research and information management by

Increasing knowledge Enabling good decisions Enhancing learning Aiding in discovery and innovation Providing knowledge management

Specific aims of WRBC Build on existing human and technological

infrastructure Assess the resources and needs within the

participating institutions Develop a prototype distributed information

management system Develop an implementation plan for biomedical

research collaborations

Background WRBC funded through NLM Integrated Advanced

Information Systems (IAIMS) planning grant program

Project period 3/2007 – 2/2009 Grantee: University of Wyoming Center for Rural

Health Research and Education (CRHRE)

How Did We Get Here? BRIN/INBRE/COBRE programs

Strengthened biomedical research capacity in “smaller” states

Established connections among Western research universities

Lariat project Enhance Internet connectivity for Western INBRE

institutions

Connections in the Lariat network

How Did We Get Here? Distributed information management systems

Remote data acquisition Secure data sharing

Based on TELELAB work with NASA in mid-90s Collect lab data at a distance Collect results from labs worldwide securely and

reliably

Interface to the prototype TELELAB system

Research “Collaboratories” Centers “without walls, in which the nation’s

researchers can perform their research without regard to geographical location” (W. Wulf, 1989)

Interaction with colleagues Accessing instrumentation Sharing data and computation resources Accessing information in digital libraries

Collaboration is essential in biomedical research Scale and complexity of research problems Combinations of skills and disciplines Access to scarce resources Sharing of data, tools, and results to reduce time

to desired outcomes

Maximizing effectiveness in biomedical research Providing institutional infrastructure for archiving

electronic information Integrating external and internal data via data and

communication standards Creating formalisms for ownership of and access

to information consistent with policies

Maximizing effectiveness in biomedical research Providing infrastructure to rapidly adopt new

methods Supporting group communication among

researchers, including tools for sharing data, information and resources

Facilitating interdisciplinary interaction and opportunities for training (particularly in bioinformatics)

[2002 IAIMS Report, NLM]

Potential collaborations Computational resources/bioinformatics Equipment and facilities Rural/frontier research issues Education INBRE RFA (announced as I was writing this!) …

“5 things I’ve learned” – Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia You need mechanisms in place for effective

collaboration. Online identity is important. A successful collaboration requires a shared

vision. Organizations are becoming flatter. Speed is incredibly important.