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FAIR data sharing in early drug discovery partnerships: An ELF case study
A team of partners from the European Lead Factory (ELF) and FAIRplus (a fellow Innovative Medicines Initiative-funded project) joined forces recently in another example of cross-consortium collaboration. The aim? To investigate the potential for ensuring that future sets of data coming out of early drug discovery projects like the ELF are more FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).
During a three-day meeting, the team assessed the FAIR maturity level of ELF data produced from high-throughput screening programmes. They took into account existing methods of operationalization within the consortium, such as the ELF Honest Data Broker (HDB) – a user-oriented system set up in the early stages of the ELF to assist with the sharing of data across consortium members.
“Our HDB was built before the FAIR principles were developed, but since it works with a highly structured and standardised dataset, there’s a clear path forward for FAIRifying the HDB system and the data it contains,” said Jason Swedlow, ELF’s HDB work package lead from the University of Dundee's School of Life Sciences and National Phenotypic Screening Centre.
In spite of the quality of the HDB system, the team did find some room for improvement in the metadata, especially when considering the future possibility of sharing data outside of the consortium as part of new initiatives like the ELF partnering initiative for charities and foundations.
Commenting on the importance of this exercise, Jon de Vlieger ELF Coordinator and Strategy Director at Lygature said: “While FAIRifying the ELF dataset is useful for current research projects, the real benefit lies in the future. Although it is currently not within the scope of the ELF to make datasets openly available outside the partnership, we cannot rule out the possibility of this happening in the future. I believe the most important aspect is that we secure the value of the data beyond the current funding term. It seems only logical that many years from now, this data should still be findable, accessible, and usable to serve the overall goal of early drug discovery projects like the ELF.”
A full study report will soon be available on the FAIRplus website.
About FAIRplus
The FAIRplus project aims to develop tools and guidelines for making life science data FAIR. In the past, squad teams from FAIRplus, consisting of experts working in universities and pharmaceutical companies, have actively worked to FAIRify datasets from large IMI projects, such as the ELF. The developed tools and methods are subsequently added as ‘recipes’ to the FAIR Cookbook, enabling projects and companies with similar FAIR data challenges to apply this consolidated know-how to increase the FAIRness of their data.