The NIH Common Fund Data Ecosystem (CFDE) launched a new Data Portal: The CFDE Workbench, that enables researchers to search for data across multiple Common Fund programs using a central search engine. The NIH Common Fund supports bold, transformative scientific programs that catalyze discovery across a broad array of biomedical and behavioral sciences. Many of these scientific programs collect large biomedical data sets that may be used by other researchers to make new discoveries or generate new hypotheses. An aim of the CFDE program is to facilitate scientific discovery through the reuse, integration, and analysis of these Common Fund datasets. However, these data sets from Common Fund programs are often in different locations, making it a challenge for researchers to work with the data in an accessible and meaningful way.
The CFDE Workbench uses advanced technologies for a sophisticated, user-friendly query option for Common Fund data sets. It also functions as the overall front-end for the CFDE program to encourage wider use of Common Fund resources, such as trainings and scientific/technological activities. The CFDE Workbench consists of two main products:
- Information Portal – The Information Portal houses information about CFDE and participating Common Fund data programs. It also includes links to news, events (such as webinars and trainings), funding opportunities, social media announcements, and more.
- Data Resource Portal – The Data Resource Portal is a gateway to datasets, workflows, and tools from the participating Common Fund programs. Users can search for results across all the data (both raw and processed data) in the workbench.
A Chatbot feature trained on CFDE data allows users to answer an array of scientific questions ranging from the frequency of gene expression in tissues to known drug interactions of a given gene. These tools will allow researchers to access these diverse datasets in a meaningful way to make new biomedical discoveries.
Learn more about other CFDE initiatives on the Funded Research page.
