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Western Regional Biomedical Collaboratory. Creating a culture for collaboration. WRBC mission statement. Create and maintain a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration in biomedical research among universities in the Western US Overcome challenges in research and information management by
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Western Regional Biomedical Collaboratory Creating a culture for collaboration
WRBC mission statement • Create and maintain a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration in biomedical research among universities in the Western US • Overcome challenges in research and information management by • Increasing knowledge • Enabling good decisions • Enhancing learning • Aiding in discovery and innovation • Providing knowledge management
Specific aims of WRBC • Build on existing human and technological infrastructure • Assess the resources and needs within the participating institutions • Develop a prototype distributed information management system • Develop an implementation plan for biomedical research collaborations
Background • WRBC funded through NLM Integrated Advanced Information Systems (IAIMS) planning grant program • Project period 3/2007 – 2/2009 • Grantee: University of Wyoming Center for Rural Health Research and Education (CRHRE)
How Did We Get Here? • BRIN/INBRE/COBRE programs • Strengthened biomedical research capacity in “smaller” states • Established connections among Western research universities • Lariat project • Enhance Internet connectivity for Western INBRE institutions
How Did We Get Here? • Distributed information management systems • Remote data acquisition • Secure data sharing • Based on TELELAB work with NASA in mid-90s • Collect lab data at a distance • Collect results from labs worldwide securely and reliably
Research “Collaboratories” • Centers “without walls, in which the nation’s researchers can perform their research without regard to geographical location” (W. Wulf, 1989) • Interaction with colleagues • Accessing instrumentation • Sharing data and computation resources • Accessing information in digital libraries
Collaboration is essential in biomedical research • Scale and complexity of research problems • Combinations of skills and disciplines • Access to scarce resources • Sharing of data, tools, and results to reduce time to desired outcomes
Maximizing effectiveness in biomedical research • Providing institutional infrastructure for archiving electronic information • Integrating external and internal data via data and communication standards • Creating formalisms for ownership of and access to information consistent with policies
Maximizing effectiveness in biomedical research • Providing infrastructure to rapidly adopt new methods • Supporting group communication among researchers, including tools for sharing data, information and resources • Facilitating interdisciplinary interaction and opportunities for training (particularly in bioinformatics) [2002 IAIMS Report, NLM]
Potential collaborations • Computational resources/bioinformatics • Equipment and facilities • Rural/frontier research issues • Education • INBRE RFA (announced as I was writing this!) • …
“5 things I’ve learned” – Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia • You need mechanisms in place for effective collaboration. • Online identity is important. • A successful collaboration requires a shared vision. • Organizations are becoming flatter. • Speed is incredibly important.