NotesFromSession3:InformationExchangewithCROs–Biology/NCDGordonBaxter(Facilitator)KeesVanBochoveChrisWatkinsRobGillPeterBoogaardAllanPriceTherewerethreeinthegroupwithabigPharmabackgroundbutallwerecurrentlyemployedinacademiaorbyvendorstothepharmaceuticalindustry.Allinthegroupcouldbecategorizedashavingmoreofa‘Discovery’than‘Development’mindset.Weagreedthattheecosystemwasrichwithlotsofplayersandthatefficientdatainterchangeandexchangewasimportantandrequired.Thecurrentsituationwasnotasgoodasitcouldbe.WhatwasmeantbyreferencetoNon‐clinicaldatawasexplainedtothegrouponrequest.TherewasalowleveloffamiliaritywithNCDexchangeasanactivity.OnlytwoofthegroupregularlyexchangeddatawithtraditionalCRO’s(CharlesRiver,TNOetc)soweagreedthatwecouldconsidertheissuefromtheperspectiveoranyorganizationthatneedstoexchangedatawithanotheraspartoftheirongoingbusiness.ExamplesfromthegroupincludeddeliveryofdatatosponsorsinBELformat.Deliveryofdatain‘ArrayExpressformat’andreceiptofdatainGEOformat.Drivetowarddatainterchangemostlydrivenbyneedtodosomethingwithit.Therearefewstandardsandveryfewgroups(authorities/regulators)areimposingtheminthe‘discovery’community.Allfeltthatbetteraccesstoanduseofdatawasofvalue.EarlyADMEendpointshelpingtokillbadprojectsearly.Molecularfootprints–chemicalvalidationetc.Inmanycasesthereweresignificantbarrierstodataexchangeincludingaparanoiathatresultsmaybere‐interpretedanddifferentconclusionsmade.Therewasafeelingamongstthegroupthatalthoughtheideaofdatainterchangesoundedcompellingandmostpeoplewouldwanttoseeotherdatafromothergroups–theyweretypicallyreluctanttosharetheirown.Therewassomefeelingthatthedatabeingsharedwasgenerallynotparticularlyusefulandperhapsdatasharinginitiativeswereratherlessimportantthanimagined.Insomesystemsthedataisexchanged,doesintoasystemandthenisrenderedimmediatelyinvisible.SomeonemadereferencetoCOPDEclipseandGWASinthisregard?Mostfeltthequalityofannotationwasaseriousproblemindataexchange.Thiswasgenerallyaddressedbyadditionalmanualannotationorbywritingbespokecode.

TheBELdataformatwasintroducedashavingpotentialindataexchange.TherewassomediscussionaboutwhetherBELwasbetterforknowledgeexchangeratherthanrawdataexchange.Itwassuggestedthatinthefutureallcontentwouldbefreeandtherealvaluewouldbeinmappingandanalysis.Thismeansyouhavetogettheformatrightsothereislesstimespentindataparsingandmoretimespentgaininginsights.Therewassomediscussionaboutthebenefitsoftriplesversusrelationaldatabases–particularlywithregardtohowefficientlytheresultingstructurescouldbesearched.Wecametotheconclusionthattheygenerallyfacilitateddifferentthingswithtriplesprovidingbetter‘brows‐ability’andthe‘distillation’ofknowledge.DBPedia,asemanticrenderingofWikipediawasmentionedasbeingmoredifficulttosearchthantheoriginal.OpenPhactswasmentionedasaformatthatmightcompetewithBEL.ATleastonememberofthegrouphasseenanearlyprototypeofasystemandwasimpressed.Thisledtoadiscussiononstandards.Somefeltthattherewerepotentiallytoomanystandardsandmostwerenotadequateinallowingrepresentationofthecomplexityor‘richness’ofthedata.Itwassuggestedthatstandardsneedtobeclearlyfocusedonanoutcomeandthattheyshouldbesmaller?Somethingwasneededto‘drive’uptakeofstandards.Neededtobebasedonbothcarrot(pleasureofgain)andstick(fearofloss).Mostpeopleinthegroupthoughtthattheonlywayastandardwouldbeadoptedwasifitwasimposedbyanauthority.Standardsneededtobeopenandnotclosed.Nostandard–eitherstructural(format,protocol,metadataconvention)orsemantic(vocabulary,ontology,terminology)couldfitallrequirements.Itwasobviousthattheinterchangeofdataforresearchwasverydifferentfromthatforsubmissionpurposes.ItwasalsogenerallyacknowledgedthatwecouldlearnsomethingfromtheNCDcommunity.WetalkedaboutthepotentialforaninterfacebetweenDiscoveryandDevelopmentdataandagreedthatonthefaceofitthiswasanimportantpartofanytranslationalsciencestrategy.Theconceptofcollaborativespacesthatwerescientificallyawarewasdiscussedasaninterestingdriverfornurturinganinformationecosystem.Whatwasmeantbyscientificallyaware?TheITcontainerwasawareofwhatthecontentrepresented?E.g.intelligencerepresentedinthespaceastextcouldbesearchedbychemicalstructureorsubstructure.