Two leading standards bodies have launched a new group aimed at connecting global neuroscience and genomic data to speed up research.
The new GA4GH & INCF Neuroscience Community is a collaboration between the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) and the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF).
The group aims to unite collaborators from around the world to share best practices and improve standards that will expand responsible use of neuroscientific data, including genomic data.
The GA4GH & INCF Neuroscience Community will connect international partners to develop the standards, collaborations and systems needed to power data visiting across a global network.
The community will help get answers faster for patients while respecting the human rights of people who donate their data.
Mathew Abrams, Director of Science and Training for INCF, said: “For nearly two decades, INCF has developed standards and best practices to make neuroscience data FAIR: findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable.
“Now we are eager to work with partners from genomics, like GA4GH, to ensure that our standards development efforts progress together and lead to the best possible science.”
The new organisation is one of several Communities of Interest founded in recent years by GA4GH.
These groups bring together global experts who focus on a specific topic, and who are keen to connect across borders and find a path to better data use.
Peter Goodhand, CEO of GA4GH, added: “Conditions and diseases don’t respect borders.
“If we want the lives of people with neurological conditions to improve, we can’t just look at data from one hospital or even one country.
“We have to study diverse data from around the world.
“With data visiting powered by federation and Global Alliance for Genomics and Health standards, clinicians and researchers can vastly expand their pool of data — while data stewards rest easy knowing they are protecting rights and following regulations.”
Image: Global Alliance for Genomics and Health / Stephanie Li
