This application outlines plans for the establishment of the NIDDK Interconnectivity Network Coordinating Center (INCC) to expand and enhance the current NIDDK Consortium Interconnectivity Network (dkCOIN) community and infrastructure. The current dkCOIN was established in recognition of the need to interconnect research communities, both basic and clinical, by providing seamless access to large pools of data relevant to the mission of NIDDK.
The aims of the dkCOIN project are similar in scope to those of the existing Neuroscience Information Framework (NIF), a project established in 2008 by the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research Institutes to provide a landscape analysis of the myriad of tools and data available via the web, and to create a portal where these resources could be collectively accessed. The NIF was designed to break down silos of information through its novel data federation technology and its concept based search. NIF takes a global view of resources such that there are no neuroscience resources or metabolic resources, only biomedical resources that contain information of more or less relevance to different communities. Thus, while the NIF user interface is domain-specific; the NIF information system and the resources it federates are broadly applicable to biomedical science. In this proposal, we outline plans to extend and enhance dkCOIN through the use of the NIF infrastructure, data federation and expertise. Through this merger, we can immediately add considerable value to the current dkCOIN by bringing in NIF's expansive data federation, resource catalog and semantic search services. The portal will continue to present the data and tools according to the needs and customs of the NIDDK community, but the backend will tap into an expanded resource pool that cuts across all domains of biomedical science, rather than a restricted set. New development will focus on the creation of workflows using tools in use by the NIDDK community with this vast array of integrated data. These tools and workflows will link to cloud computational and storage resources, in order to ensure that the network is sustainable. New development will also focus on more effective means to connect NIDDK researchers with resources that are available to them to support their research projects. Development will be driven by use cases supplied by NIDDK-supported researchers to ensure that it meets NI DDK's objectives. We believe that the strategy outlined here provides a cost effective and innovative means to ensure that researchers have access to the data and tools they require regardless of where they reside, and provides a sustainable model for future similar efforts.
Modern biomedical science involves the accrual of increasing larger data sets in many forms. NIDDK, as have most NIH Institutes, has invested heavily in production of such data sets through discovery-based projects in diabetes, stem cells, metabolism, and tissue development. Through partnering with leaders in the field of metabolomics and diabetes, we will create the next generation dkCOIN, leveraging NIF's mature and powerful system for resource discovery and resource holdings.
