caBIG® in Action
Online Cancer Research Portal Encourages International Collaboration
Cancer researchers across the globe have a powerful new tool at their disposal that facilitates international collaborations. ONIX (ONcology Information eXchange) is a free, web-based information portal that enables scientists and clinicians to search through and access international research data to improve the flow of information among individuals, institutions and organizations.
ONIX was created and launched by the U.K. National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) in partnership with the NCI and caBIG®.
"The ONIX infrastructure leverages key components of the caGrid core infrastructure including the registry services for resource advertisements, query services for obtaining data, semantics components such as the LexEVS federated terminology service, and the caGrid federated security infrastructure," explained Avinash Shanbhag, Director of Core Infrastructure Engineering for the NCI Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology. He continued, "Key components of the caGrid portal infrastructure have also been integrated into ONIX and are undergoing continual development to power more sophisticated search tools. An effort is also underway to create a "Grid of Grids" between ONIX and caGrid that will allow users to access information from both networks in a secure manner."
A World of Data
ONIX users currently have access to more than 45 databases which are divided into categories—such as genomics, clinical, or literature—for easy searches. Users can query individual databases or combine multiple information sources based on their needs. Additionally, an online resource catalogue will connect researchers with teams around the world who are working in the same areas—making it easier to collaborate on similar studies and reducing the potential for duplicative research efforts.
"Researchers can use it to pull out specific, relevant data from the haystack of information out there, saving them valuable time," explained Professor Sir Alex Markham, who was a leader in the development of ONIX. "As a result, researchers will be better connected to the latest projects, data and updates from institutions in the field of cancer. What you see now is just the beginning."
Dr. Stuart Bell of the NCRI added, "It's also a way to foster communication internationally. If you're working on BRCA1 in England you may not know about a group in Italy or Switzerland that may be a potential partner. In a sense, people can advertise themselves here and then you can contact people to see about potential overlaps and best practices."
What Users Should Know
ONIX is free and is based on open access technology that may be utilized to create similar resources for other areas of disease. The site currently requires users to complete a basic registration, but a new version is expected in 2009 that will require registration only for users who need access to secure data that requires special permissions, such as patient data from clinical trials.
Dr. Bell was also careful to point out that the site was designed to be user-friendly and usable by non-scientists. "While this tool was designed to be a professional, cancer-specific system, it can be used by anyone who is looking for reliable information on cancer—including patients, students and the general public."
Looking Ahead
ONIX will continue to expand and improve based on user contributions and feedback—beginning with updates in 2009 based on feedback from a user test group. Teams from caBIG® and the NCRI are currently working to enable semantic querying capabilities that will enable more refined searches and the resource catalogue is expanding to include large clinical trials organizations throughout Europe, such as the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) in Brussels.
"We're very keen on getting feedback and suggestions for what should be included in the search facility or the resource catalogue," noted Bell. "We are looking to build a feedback forum that will enable people to ask questions, offer suggestions, and communicate with one another directly."
Additional Resources
- To access the portal visit: http://www.ncri-onix.org.uk/
