LabKey Server is an ideal solution for disease-specific organizations that need a comprehensive data repository to support research collaboration.

By enabling researchers to correlate data from clinical observations, diagnostic assays, and molecular analysis results, a data repository focused on a single disease can accelerate progress toward a cure.

A prime example of a disease-focused data repository is LabKey's role in supporting large research consortia working toward an HIV/AIDS vaccine.  LabKey Software worked in partnership with the Statistical Center for HIV/AIDS Research and Prevention to apply and adapt LabKey Server to be the core of this repository, named "Atlas."  By the end of 2009, Atlas was well established in the HIV/AIDS vaccine research community,  supporting over 3000 users, and containing more than 17,500 research datasets of 70 different types.

Data Repository Solution Components

Flexible data management

A repository that is designed to hold all current research results for a particular disease needs to be able to manage the full range of biomedical data, from raw genomic and proteomic data sets to spreadsheets containing summarized findings.  LabKey Server was made for that task.

Open architecture

A data repository can quickly create research bottlenecks if researchers need to submit requests to a small number of database administrators, and wait for their replies.  LabKey's solution is to make the data available directly to the researchers, and let them do their own analyses using familiar tools.  LabKey's Client API and broad tool support makes this possible.

Comprehensive tool set

A data repository needs more than mechanisms to get data in and out.  It needs tools like wiki pages to explain to users how to use the site and where to look.  It needs secure message boards to foster discussion and coordination.  It needs issue trackers to keep track of problems and feature requests.  LabKey Server has all of these collaboration tools and more.

Secure data sharing

Letting researchers have direct access the data demands simple ways to ensure that the right data can be seen by the right users.  LabKey's security architecture, implemented throughout the platform, ensures that data sets that raise privacy or quality concerns can be restricted to authorized groups of users.

Ready to handle the load

A successful, disease-focused repository will attract demanding research users and requests for more and more complex data.  LabKey Server is designed to scale with the success of the system.  And the LabKey Professional Services team has deep experience in building and maintaining large, heavily used web-database applications.