Demonstration cases of data management and nanoinformatics functionalities

A case study is a particular instance of something used or analysed in order to illustrate a thesis or principle. It is meant as an in-depth study of a particular situation, method used to narrow down a very broad field of research into a researchable topic, a guide to allow further elaboration and hypothesis creation on a subject, an exercise to facilitate different disciplines / tools to combine forces but not as a sweeping statistical survey or a complete answer to a particular question.

Many nanosafety and nanoinformatics projects are nowadays driven by such case studies concentrating on aspects relevant to the objective of these project. This page is a place, where ended and ongoing studies can be presented. Especially, the latter is important since this page is also meant to be a recruiting platform for people interested in participating in these cases. Please contact the NanoCommons help desk if you want to be put in contact with case study leaders.

Due to the focus of this platform, we are especially interested in case studies, which showcase and highlight

  1. the capabilities and potential of the advance data management and nanoinformatics functionality especially with respect to data quality (in terms of curation and collection) and data enrichment and
  2. is based on collaborative research bringing many experts and whenever possible different projects together.

We will use the term “demonstration cases” in the following for this specific type of activities.

ELNs for data collection and annotation This case demonstrates how electronic lab notebooks (ELNs) can be used to manage complex studies and collaborative research. It will also show current challenges especially with respect to the initial high effort to set up the customised workflows, integration with other data management tools and additional requirements when using in regulatory setting. (ended)

Protein corona modelling Bio-nano interaction data (characterization of nanomaterials with and without allergens, structural alterations upon nanoparticle binding, selective binding of allergens from protein mixes, investigations of protein orientations when bound to NMs, etc.) are generated in different past and ongoing projects. This demonstration case was designed around this research to see how corona modelling can help to understand the effects. (ended)

Data management concept NanoFASE The main objective of this case study was to establish a management workflow for the data-related processes at a large multidisciplinary project level, which includes the data preparation needed, the steps to introduce these processes and their benefit to the entire consortium, the establishment of communication and trust with the different partners and the training needed to familiarise the partners with the data management processes and their application. (ended)

Study design documentation This demonstration case is intended to define a way to document the study design in specific laboratories with respect to the decision making processes applied. Additionally, it will design approaches to use the study design as the basis for organising the data collection and management processes and the integration of quality assurance and control measures and their documentation. (ongoing)

SOP development documentation This demonstration case is intended to define a standardised ways to develop SOPs and share them. This will allow independent quality control and comparison as well as reuse of information as metadata accompanying datasets generated according to the SOP. (ongoing)

SbD, risk governance and nanofabrication This demonstration case is intended to optimse the ways to support data and tool sharing in different project clusters. (ongoing)

Grouping and read-across Grouping/read-across approaches constitute one key component of the complete risk assessment framework. This case is mapping the existing approaches and tools and designs roads towards integrated workflows. (ongoing)

Nanomaterial risk assessment This demonstration case will review and document existing risk assessment frameworks and checklists and develop concepts to provide interoperable tools supporting them. (ongoing)

Building regulatory acceptance In this case, selected nanoinformatics approaches will be prepared and submitted to regulatory evaluation. (ongoing)

Development of NInChI This demonstration case is will develop a new nanomaterial identifier based on the InChI concepts, the InChI for nano or NInChI. (ongoing)