Unidad de Bioinformática del Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas (CNIO). /Laura M. Lombardía. CNIO
The initiative is promoted by the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), within the framework of the IMPaCT Precision Medicine Infrastructure, and is led by the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO-ISCIII), the Centre for Biomedical Research Network (CIBER-ISCIII), and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center–Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC–CNS).
The aim is for all stakeholders in Spain’s cancer research ecosystem that generate relevant data — research centres, hospitals, national and international projects — to progressively join the Node, which has already been launched and is advancing through its initial phase.
The Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, highlighted that through this initiative “we are placing public science’s data and capabilities at the service of research in order to move towards increasingly precise and personalised medicine, in this case, in the fight against cancer.”
The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU), through the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), is promoting the development of the Spanish National Cancer Data Node to drive improvements in cancer research by facilitating and organising the secure use of data generated through cancer-related R&D&I activities. These data include clinical, epidemiological, genomic, multi-omic, imaging, pathological and therapeutic response information.
This initiative forms part of the IMPaCT Precision Medicine Infrastructure and is being developed through its Data Science Programme (IMPaCT-Data). It is jointly led by the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), the Cancer area of the Centre for Biomedical Research Network (CIBER-ISCIII), and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center–Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC–CNS).
The Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, highlighted that through this initiative “we are placing public science’s data and capabilities at the service of research in order to move towards increasingly precise and personalised medicine, in this case, in the fight against cancer.”
“The Spanish National Cancer Data Node represents a step forward in connecting the knowledge generated by our researchers and facilitating the translation of that knowledge into new advances in cancer research,” she explained.
A common space for cancer research data
Data generated within research consortia and projects are usually shared among the participating scientific communities. However, these efforts are often developed using different access models, standards and tools, which are not always fully harmonised.
The Spanish National Cancer Data Node, which is already underway in its initial phases, aims precisely to facilitate the use and reuse of these data through standards that promote interoperability. To this end, the FAIR principles — the acronym in English for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable — will be applied both to the data and to the software required for their analysis.
This project was created to align with the European Union in the context of the recently established European Health Data Space, promoting the secure integration and exchange of information. The concept of a Data Node emerged within the EOSC4Cancer project (coordinated by BSC and involving more than 20 European organisations), developed with the participation of various stakeholders including CIBER Oncology and CNIO, among other organisations.
The objective is for all stakeholders in Spain’s cancer research ecosystem generating relevant data — research centres, hospitals, national and international projects, public administrations, and patient and family support organisations — to progressively join the Node.
National and European cooperation
Sharing data and tools in a coordinated manner, both nationally and through cooperation with Europe, will enable the scientific community to work more effectively to achieve a better understanding of the disease.
Coordinated access to data will help accelerate the potential discovery of new treatments and, ultimately, contribute to improving the quality of life of patients and their families and communities.
Fast and agile access
The Node will enable the research community to gain fast and agile access to large data catalogues and computational tools for their analysis, creating a shared access environment for all stakeholders within the cancer research ecosystem.
It will also ensure a secure environment for managing oncology R&D&I data, bringing together and combining the talent and resources of different biomedical and healthcare structures across the country.
The initiative will also facilitate the progressive integration of knowledge generated by existing projects, as well as by future initiatives. For its development, the Spanish Node benefits from one of the richest and most diverse ecosystems, supported by a group of organisations with scientific excellence and highly complementary capabilities.
In this way, the Spanish National Cancer Data Node will help advance towards a more connected research ecosystem, in which data and tools can be shared and reused in a coordinated manner to improve knowledge of cancer and contribute to progress in cancer research.