Drs. Wagenaar, Martone, and Hunter, co-Investigators of the SPARC Data and Resource Center, have formed the Data Coordination and Integration Center for the NIH PRECISION Human Pain Network, with funding from the NIH Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative.
The HEAL Initiative is an ambitious, NIH-wide effort to find scientific solutions to the devastating national opioid public health crisis. In part, HEAL aims to understand the biological underpinnings of chronic pain, and to develop non-addictive pain treatments.
The NIH PRECISION (Program to Reveal and Evaluate Cells-to-gene Information that Specify Intricacies, Origins, and the Nature of Human Pain) Human Pain Network contributes to this initiative by building comprehensive datasets of the molecular signatures, genes, cell types, and tissues that underlie human pain types, conditions, and disease.
As the Data Coordination and Integration Center (DCIC) for PRECISION, SPARC works directly with four funded research teams to define data and metadata types, to improve data management and sharing, and to integrate datasets and visualization tools.
SPARC works closely with the NIH PRECISION Human Pain Network to:
- Generate comprehensive and integrated datasets and digital assets on human genes, cellular function, and tissue microenvironments that may underlie heterogeneity, pathogenesis, and susceptibility to specific pain condition
- Establish spatial and semantic standards for managing these heterogeneous datasets
- Establish a web-accessible information system to capture, store, analyze, curate, and harmonize data and metadata
- Include anatomical and neural connectivity to the knowledge base and flatmap tools to aid discoverability
- Collect and register these datasets to common neural coordinate systems
- Generate interactive spatial frameworks that incorporate PRECISION data
All of these efforts will be facilitated by the SPARC Portal, the open community platform for bridging the body and the brain. The SPARC Portal provides a unique data ecosystem for collaborative support and data integration for the NIH PRECISION Human Pain Network research teams. It will also increase the impact of their work by connecting it to the broader perspective of the peripheral nervous system. In addition, these data will be accessible through the HEAL Data Platform.
In the end, these contributions will support the NIH HEAL Initiative, which seeks to accelerate the discovery and successful translation of non-addictive pain therapeutics–with the ultimate goal of finding long-term solutions to pain beyond the highly addictive opioids currently in use.
—-
The SPARC Data and Resource Center has more than seven years of experience working together to create tools and procedures to assist in the organization and transparency of experimental data. However, many of our members bring decades of data sharing experience to SPARC. A key factor in making SPARC datasets FAIR is to align and harmonize data, using known, well-structured standards, so they can be understood, no matter the research project or experiment. This includes: 1. clear and consistent data structure; 2. open data formats; and 3. detailed and accessible methods. The SPARC DRC receives funding from the NIH Common Fund Program, SPARC, which stands for Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions. It comprises a large consortium of investigators focused on basic and translational science in a number of organs and species. The long term goal is to generate innovative ideas and technologies for novel bioelectronic therapies by creating the opportunity for unique analyses and discovery. Interested in utilizing SPARC? Find out more here.
Disclaimer
The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
