“To fully benefit from the exponentially growing body of biomedical data, we need cutting-edge approaches that foster data access, analysis, sharing, and collaboration so novel scientific questions can be pursued. But the sheer volume, sometimes siloed nature, along with the costs and time associated with analyzing large datasets, can be difficult for some researchers. Recognizing these concerns, NIH is helping by hosting large data sets and bringing together computational tools and cloud technologies in ways that support open access, interoperability, and collaborative analyses. We encourage you to explore how these resources may help accelerate your research in ways not possible before.”
“In recent years, NIH has invested in cloud computing and other platforms to create shared environments enabling opportunities for better data access and novel analyses. These investments are positively shifting how researchers interact with COVID-19, genomic, imaging, proteomic, and other NIH-supported large datasets.”
“The NIH Strategic Plan for Data Science suggests fostering data access and use through investing in cloud computing will have many benefits. Researchers, for one, can retrieve data quicker than before, without needing to copy and store any data locally. They can also leverage existing high compute environments to scale up analyses and improve efficiencies, without needing to build or maintain the underlying infrastructure. And working in the cloud may ease collaboration between government, academia, industry, and other partners to facilitate the translation of basic discoveries into novel treatments.”
“An NIH initiative that brings together computational tools and cloud technologies for our recipient institutions and supported investigators is the Science and Technology Research Infrastructure for Discovery, Experimentation, and Sustainability (STRIDES) Initiative. Launched in 2018, the STRIDES Initiative is a vehicle for NIH and NIH-funded researchers to access cloud resources through partnerships with commercial cloud providers—making it easier and more cost-effective to access large datasets and computing power. More than 60 NIH research institutions are currently taking advantage of the favorable pricing, training, and technical support available. We encourage you to learn how others are leveraging these services and explore the available opportunities too…” Read the full article here.
Source: Enhancing Data Access and Analysis in the Cloud Advances NIH-Supported Discovery — By Andrea Norris, Patti Brennan, Susan Gregurick, and Mike Lauer, May 10, 2021. NIH.
