The European Radiobiology Archives (ERA), present state and future developments

Kulka

International Journal of Radiation Biology

et al. 2019

Over the past 60 years a great number of very large datasets have been generated from the experimental exposure of animals to external radiation and internal contamination. This accumulation of 'big data' has been matched by increasingly large epidemiological studies from accidental and occupational radiation exposure, and from plants, humans and other animals affected by environmental contamination. We review the creation, sustainability and reuse of this legacy data, and discuss the importance of Open data and biomaterial archives for contemporary radiobiological sciences, radioecology and epidemiology. We find evidence for the ongoing utility of legacy datasets and biological materials, but that the availability of these resources depends on uncoordinated, often institutional, initiatives to curate and archive them. The importance of open data from contemporary experiments and studies is also very clear, and yet there are few stable platforms for their preservation, sharing, and reuse. We discuss the development of the ERA and STORE data sharing platforms for the scientific community, and their contribution to FAIR sharing of data. The contribution of funding agency and journal policies to the support of data sharing is critical for the maximum utilisation and reproducibility of publicly funded research, but this needs to be matched by training in data management and cultural changes in the attitudes of investigators to ensure the sustainability of the data and biomaterial commons.

Section: The European Radiobiological Archive (Era)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Big data in radiation biology and epidemiology; an overview of the historical and contemporary landscape of data and biomaterial archives

Kulka

International Journal of Radiation Biology

et al. 2019

Data and Biomaterial Archives in Radioecology and Radiobiology; the Importance of STOREing

Kulka

NATO Science for Peace and Security Series A: Chemistry and Biology

et al. 2022

In this commentary we consider the importance of ready access to ecological data, existing resources and approaches for radiological datasets and material, and wider public policy developments in regard to data access and reuse. We describe the development and operation of the STORE database for radiobiology, radioecology and epidemiology as a central data sharing resource, and finally we consider the issues of financial and scientific sustainability of material resource archives and the future of resources like STORE.

Progress in updating the European Radiobiology Archives

International Journal of Radiation Biology

Adelmann

et al. 2008

ERA has the potential of becoming a world-wide radiobiological research tool for numerous applications, such as the re-analysis of existing data with new approaches in the light of new hypotheses and techniques, and using the database as an information resource for planning future animal studies. When the database is opened for new data it may be possible to offer long-term storage of data from recent and future animal studies.