caGRID Release Highlights Usability and Security Functions
Grid infrastructure is “robust, reliable and open for business…”
caBIG® tools and infrastructure are playing an important role in transferring biomedical data from the bench to the bedside. But turning this data into methods for improving patient outcomes requires that the informatics systems of the nation’s cancer research enterprise be truly interoperable.
To address this need for connection, the NCI has developed caGrid, the underlying software infrastructure that promotes caBIG® interoperability across the cancer community through the use of caBIG® applications, tools, information standards, and data and analytical resources.
“Interoperability enables systems that have never been able to communicate with one another to communicate,” said Stephen Langella, lead security architect for caGrid and caBIG® and co-Director of the Software Research Institute in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at The Ohio State University Medical Center. “caGrid allows data to be integrated in a manner that was never achievable before, leading to new advances in medicine and health care.”
![]() caGrid Infrastructure and environment. |
New Features Provide Key User Benefits
The latest version of caGrid, version 1.1, was released in September 2007. To better address the cancer research community’s needs, this version improves upon previous releases in specific, user-requested areas:
- Service development and deployment
- Usability
- Security
- Testing
Among the service development and deployment updates, caGrid 1.1 adds the ability to migrate caGrid 1.0 Introduce services to caGrid 1.1 services. Introduce also received numerous updates, including the ability to better manage service security settings, support complex resource-based services, self-update, and edit all service documentation security settings. Among usability improvements, client applications feature improved error handling, layout, input validation, help systems, and tool tips.
Version 1.1 also brought major updates to the security of caGrid. These updates were informed by the first set of policies and procedures created by the caBIG® Security Working Group, a collaborative effort of the caBIG® Architecture Workspace and Data Sharing and Intellectual Capital (DSIC) Workspace. The initial policies in place for caGrid 1.1 formalize the Levels of Assurance the group envisioned for providing access to the software and tools contained within caGrid. They also describe credential provider policies and practices for the initial Level of Assurance (LOA1), which governs caBIG® participant baseline credentials.
“The successful release of caGrid 1.1 and the seamless transition of existing services into the new infrastructure will show that the national grid infrastructure is robust, reliable, and open for business,” said Avinash Shanbhag, Director of Core Infrastructure Engineering at the NCI Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology.
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130216130804im_/http://cabig.cancer.gov/objects/images/links_callout_top.jpg)
To sign up for the caGrid LISTSERV, visit:
https://list.nih.gov/cgi-bin/wa.exe?REPORT&z=3&s=0&9=O&a=1
cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=
cagrid_users-l&A=1.
![](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130216130804im_/http://cabig.cancer.gov/objects/images/links_callout_bottom.jpg)
The first iteration of caGrid, version 0.5, was released in September 2005, and included an initial set of software tools to facilitate the goals of caBIG®. The next generation version, caGrid 1.0, was released in December 2006, and led to an Outstanding Achievement Award for the developer team at the caBIG® 2007 Annual Meeting.
“Each release of caGrid has improved upon earlier releases by incorporating user feedback and assembling input on the direction of the caBIG® program as a whole,” said Scott Oster, caGrid Chief Architect and co-Director, with Langella, of the Software Research Institute at The Ohio State University Medical Center.
“The caGrid Users Group meets regularly and allows caGrid users to present their comments and concerns and submit feature requests,” said Langella. “Feedback is also collected from the various workspaces.”
The caGrid Model
caGrid is essential to the caBIG® vision of creating a full cycle of integrated cancer research that facilitates global collaboration among researchers, enabling them to share data, applications, and infrastructure.
![]() History of caGrid. Highlight indicates caGrid 1.0-based development. |
“caGrid is the glue that links all of the caBIG®-compatible tools together and allows information to be shared and decision-making to be coordinated across multiple sites,” said Joel Saltz, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Biomedical Informatics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Davis Chair of Cancer Research in the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, whose research team led the collaborative development of caGrid. “It’s the interaction communication layer of caBIG®.”
The power of this connection is not limited solely to cancer research. According to Langella, this model for biomedical research reaches beyond cancer and could be adapted to other disease areas like cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
“Although the catalyst for the creation of caGrid infrastructure was to implement the caBIG® goal of finding cures for cancer, all of the caGrid components were designed generically such that they may be leveraged by other disease areas,” said Langella. “caGrid has already been adopted as the core compatibility infrastructure for the Cardiovascular Research Grid (CVRG) and we expect it will be useful for biomedical research on other diseases as well.”
For more information about the specific updates and new features contain in caGrid 1.1, visit: https://gforge.nci.nih.gov/frs/shownotes.php?release_id=1548.
For more information about the current version of caGrid, visit: https://cabig.nci.nih.gov/workspaces/Architecture/caGrid/.
caGrid was developed as part of the Architecture Workspace of caBIG®. Supporting institutions for the development of caGrid 1.1, led by the Ohio State University Biomedical Informatics Department, include the National Cancer Institute's Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology; the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory; the Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center; SemanticBits, LLC.; Ekagra Software Technologies Ltd; and Northern Taiga Ventures, Inc.