Bridging data management platforms and visualization tools to enable ad-hoc and smart analytics in life sciences
In this 2022 journal article published in Journal of Integrative Bioinformatics, Panse et al. discuss the state of research-based core facilities that share research resources across institutions or organizations, in particular in regards to data and information management. The authors note that the “interdisciplinary nature of such scientific projects requires a powerful and flexible platform for data annotation, communication, and exploration,” and the authors—associated with the Functional Genomics Center Zurich (FGCZ)—present B-Fabric, their solution to data and information management in such settings. After providing a brief background, the authors discuss the development and application of B-Fabric at FGCZ, along with lessons learned. They conclude that with systems like B-Fabric, “ad-hoc visualizations and analytics can be realized on top of an integrative platform that captures and processes any kind of data and scientific processes.” The platform is also able “to decouple metadata management from data processing and visualization components” while also optimizing specific software software environments for different research areas.
