Biomedical tools and technologies are evolving rapidly, enabling scientists to both generate and analyze more research data than ever before. But what happens when datasets become too large to share or when the data from various sources are so dissimilar that they cannot be combined easily with another related but different dataset? These types of data roadblocks slow or prevent the translation of scientific research into medical knowledge and, ultimately, health benefits.

Making data more meaningful, open and accessible is a key goal in the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences’ efforts to improve translational science and to that end, CTSA is helping informatics experts develop standardized approaches and best practices, including algorithms and other specialized tools, to address operational and institutional barriers to sharing data. At UW, Kari Stephens, PhD, Sean Mooney, PhD (Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics), and Adam Wilcox, PhD (Department of Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education) are spearheading data and software related solutions for this program. These solutions are meant to increase data sharing capabilities and resources for researchers by serving the NCATS’s Clinical Translational Science Award Consortium, which includes the UW Institute of Translational Health Sciences and its 60+ sister institutes across the nation.