Biomedical Informatics Research Network

BIRN provides a framework for sharing biomedical research across disparate groups or institutions. If you frequently need to move large quantities of data between collaborating researchers, need to query data from different sources, or require other help making sense of our data, BIRN's proven infrastructure can enable you to do so easily and effic... iently. Our internal expertise also can help you keep your systems functioning optimally, and provides a reliable resource if you have questions or need help. Are there minimum requirements for participation? In a word, no. BIRN seeks to aid university- and institute-based researchers with geographically and/or technically distributed projects, such as multi-site clinical trials. Our Working Groups (WGs) evaluate candidate projects, based on their unique characteristics and use cases, in the WGs' respective specialties. While BIRN WGs may consider factors such as project scale, research goals, technical challenges, host institution, and sponsor funding, there are no specific criteria or required sizes. What kinds of groups can get the most out of BIRN? While there's no single answer to that question, there are some key characteristics. On a technical level, your group must need to exchange data between multiple sites on an ongoing basis, not just from one site to another or for a one-time-only project. Alternatively, you may want to make data from multiple sites publicly available. On a social level, we ask that you understand your users' data-sharing problems and be able to articulate how those issues affect them in day-to-day, real-world ways. We don't expect your team to be technical wizards. But the more specific you can be about your data-sharing needs and problems, the faster we'll know whether we can help. We also view BIRN commitments as true partnerships in which we contribute technical expertise, and you provide the knowledge specific to your field. For instance, we can advise you on how to go about defining user needs and requirements, but only your users ...Read More