System Capabilities
The FITBIR team has implemented and enhanced a suite of tools, originally developed for the National Database for Autism Research (NDAR), for data definition, standardization and validation to help researchers adopt community data standards across all projects and research institutions. FITBIR's Data Dictionary Tool, allows researchers to define their own form structures and operates with FITBIR's Validation Tool to ensure data quality. FITBIR requires only minimal adjustments to the way raw data is entered, and multiple web tutorials and demos will be available for researchers willing to submit their data.
Implementation
FITBIR is a secure bioinformatics platform for the TBI research community that encompasses the full range of data collected by investigators and combines technologies and policy regimes in order to:
- promote standardization and harmonization of informatics approaches used within FITBIR and across the TBI research community
- define explicitly the nature of the data and how it was collected
- allow re-aggregation and meta-analysis of data
- assure confidentiality of research subjects
- promote scientific collaboration
- provide a convenient schedule for the sharing of descriptive and experimental data
FITBIR combines the function of a data repository, which holds genetic, phenotypic, clinical, and medical imaging data, and the function of a scientific community platform, which defines the standard tools and policies to integrate the computational resources developed by scientific research institutions, private foundations, and other federal and state agencies supporting TBI research. Furthermore, FITBIR is working to develop the means to connect relevant repositories together through data federation.
