New NIAMS consortium awards to utilize SPARC DRC resources for data curation and sharing.
The SPARC Data and Resource Center (DRC) has been selected for funding as part of the Restoring Joint Health and Function to Reduce Pain (RE-JOIN) Consortium. The RE-JOIN Consortium is part of the Helping to End Addiction Long-term® Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative®, an aggressive, trans-NIH effort to speed scientific solutions to stem the national opioid public health crisis.
Leveraging experience from SPARC, the Knowledge Management and Data Cores will serve as the Data Coordinating Group for RE-JOIN. Data generated from the RE-JOIN research teams will be professionally curated in alignment with SPARC standards for dissemination in a meaningful way to a wide audience through the SPARC Portal. SPARC is fully compliant with the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy and supports the FAIR principles: F indable, A ccessible, I nteroperable and R eusable, as adherence to these principles allows data sharing in a meaningful way. As the Data Coordinating Group, the SPARC Cores will also facilitate compliance with HEAL policies and expectations as it relates to data and the larger HEAL data ecosystem.
Investigators have published over 200 high quality datasets and computational models on our publicly accessible resource, the SPARC Portal. Datasets contributed are accompanied by data viewers, robust search capabilities, and citation tools. The SPARC DRC goal is to expand the visibility and impact of this important work and collectively bring new insights into the innervation of the joint tissues.
Read more about the RE-JOIN Consortium in the letter from Dr. Lindsey Criswell, Director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.
The SPARC Data and Resource Center has more than five 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.
