The Common Fund generates a diverse array of valuable data sets and knowledge resources intended for the research community. However, these resources are dispersed across multiple locations, making it challenging to navigate and utilize them efficiently. To address this, the Common Fund Data Ecosystem (CFDE) was established to facilitate the broad use of Common Fund data to drive discovery. The CFDE has developed the CFDE Portal—an online discovery platform designed to make Common Fund data more findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR). This portal enables researchers to search and analyze multiple Common Fund datasets from a single access point, enhancing usability and scientific inquiry.
The CFDE is structured around five centers that work collaboratively to integrate metadata, data, tools, and knowledge from participating Common Fund programs. These collective efforts enable researchers to generate hypotheses, make discoveries, and validate findings, leading to new insights into health and disease. Additionally, the CFDE supports pilot projects that engage a wide range of end-users, gather feedback on Common Fund data resources, and foster the exploration of cross-disciplinary biological questions.
1. CFDE Centers-The CFDE five centers include: the data resource center, the knowledge center, the training center, the coordination and integration center, and the cloud workspace center. These CFDE centers serve as the central hub for CFDE activities, engaging with Common Fund programs, user communities, and training initiatives. They are building a computational infrastructure that aims to convert data and metadata into knowledge. These centers work closely with relevant programs to ensure seamless integration and coordination.
2. Participating Common Fund Data Coordinating Centers (DCCs)-These centers collaborate with the CFDE to ensure that the data and tools that their program produces can be integrated and combined with other datasets for knowledge discovery and sustainability. The CFDE promotes establishing best practices, sharing of tools and workflows, developing cross-data use cases, and providing training.
3. Enhancing the Utility of Common Fund Data Sets (Pilot Projects)-The CFDE also funds pilot projects and partnerships aimed at developing new tools, refining existing data sets, and integrating multiple data sources to answer complex biological questions. These projects broaden the CFDE’s reach by engaging new users, improving portal functionality, and facilitating interdisciplinary research. For more information, visit the Funded Research page.
Currently, 18 Common Fund programs participate in the CFDE, each offering unique perspectives to improve data integration and accessibility:
4D Nucleome (4DN)
Acute to Chronic Pain Signatures (A2CPS)
Bridge to Artificial Intelligence (Bridge2AI)
Community Partnerships to Advance Science for Society (ComPASS)
Extracellular RNA Communication (ExRNA)
Genotype Tissue Expression (GTEx)
GlyGen (GlyGen)
The Human Microbiome Project (HMP)
Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP)
Illuminating the Druggable Genome (IDG)
Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research (Kids First)
Library of Integrated Network-based Cellular Signatures (LINCS)
Metabolomics (Metabolomics)
Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC)
Nutrition for Precision Health (NPH)
Somatic Mosaicism across Human Tissues (SMaHT)
Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions (SPARC)
The Cellular Senescence Network (SenNet)
These programs produce data and other resources for the most cutting-edge grand challenges in biomedical research. Moving forward, the CFDE is expected to continue to expand, incorporating future Common Fund programs to further enrich the research community’s access to high-quality, cutting edge, large-scale, and interoperable data and metadata.