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Today, the SciLifeLab Data Platform, a hub for data-driven life science research in Sweden, is launched

Life science is becoming more data-driven. The amount and complexity of data that is produced and shared has significantly increased in recent years. Open data has furthered scientific discoveries in multiple areas, including health, drug discovery, infectious biology, cell- and molecular biology, and biodiversity. This forms the basis for the SciLifeLab and Wallenberg National Program on Data-Driven Life Science (DDLS). The program aims to recruit and train the next generation of life scientists, and to provide good data-centric services and support. Today, the SciLifeLab Data Platform, which will act as a central hub for these efforts, is launched.

The SciLifeLab Data Platform is a new technical hosting environment for data-centric tools, databases, and support for data-driven life science research. The platform website will also function as a hub for the life science community. Together, these two elements aim to support and accelerate data-driven life science research in Sweden. The platform, funded by the SciLifeLab & Wallenberg National Program for Data-Driven Life Science (DDLS), will serve all life science researchers and data-producing facilities in Sweden. SciLifeLab Data Centre has been appointed by the SciLifeLab Board to lead these efforts.

In order for the Swedish life science research community to generate and share cutting-edge data-driven research, appropriate services, tools, and support are warranted. Therefore, providing good data-centric services and customized support are key elements of the data-driven research effort. All the services hosted on the SciLifeLab Data Platform adhere to Open Science and the FAIR principles.

The platform promotes good data management practices throughout the data life cycle, in order to facilitate reproducible research. The platform aims to showcase and promote services and research related to data-driven life science in Sweden, as well as relevant events, training, and community-driven initiatives. Also, the aim is to make all data produced by SciLifeLab available through the platform to the largest extent possible.

Whilst the initial focus of the platform will be to integrate services already in development by SciLifeLab Data Centre and partners, hosting for other resources will be offered soon. Researchers, organisations, and communities that are interested in making their tools/data/services available via the platform will be encouraged to contact the platform team.

For the SciLifeLab Data Platform to act as an effective hub for the Swedish life science community, it will be essential to have community-driven content and initiatives. The website team will actively seek engagement from the community for all sections of the website, and encourages suggestions for novel sections or new content. Gaining feedback from the community from an early stage is therefore of the utmost importance for ensuring that the website is a beneficial resource for the community.

“We aim to create an environment for the community where researchers, data-producing platforms, and compute centers interact with each other with increased impact and reproducibility for research data and results. We invite contributions and users to the Platform and look forward to fruitful collaborations and exciting new data-driven research” says Johan Rung, Head of SciLifeLab Data Centre.

Since two years, SciLifeLab Data Centre operates the Swedish COVID-19 Data Portal, now the Swedish COVID-19 & Pandemic Preparedness Data Portal. The team will use their experience with and lessons learned from building and running that portal to build the new SciLifeLab Data Platform. Visit the new SciLifeLab Data Platform at https://data.scilifelab.se.


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Last updated: 2022-06-02

Content Responsible: Johan Inganni(johan.inganni@scilifelab.se)