BHBD Secretariat 2023-01-19 04:18:22
In 2022, the BHBD Alliance has been continuously building the open data system through big data archive, curation, integration and analysis. In this year, the National Genomics Data Center, China National Center for Bioinformation (CNCB-NGDC, the data platform of this programme) developed several new databases for infectious diseases and microbiology (MPoxVR, KGCoV, ProPan), cancer-trait association (ASCancer Atlas, TWAS Atlas, Brain Catalog, CCAS) as well as tropical plants (TCOD), and updated a set of major resources (GSA, GWH, GVM, GEN, MethBank, LncRNA, RCoV19), providing a family of database resources to support global academic and industrial communities (https://ngdc.cncb.ac.cn).
We provide free, fast and convenient multi-omics data submission and archive services for users from all over the world. As of December 2022, the total omics data archived in the Genome Sequence Archive (GSA) has exceeded 19 PB. GSA has been designated as a supported data repository by Springer Nature and Elsevier, and also recognized by Wiley and Taylor & Francis. Data submissions have been reported in over 2,000 articles covering 475 journals. The Resource for Coronavirus 2019 (RCoV19) has archived over 14 million SARS-CoV-2 sequences, providing services for 2.4 million visitors from 181 countries/regions worldwide (with the highest record of over 60% international visitors), with total downloads over 10 billion sequences. The database resources of CNCB-NGDC was introduced in ANSO Highlight for Open Data in October 2022, which was recommended by ANSO (Alliance of International Science Organizations) President Prof. Bai Chunli.
In 2022, we organized two online international meetings for biodiversity and health big data sharing, and participated a number of events to promote the programme. Together with our BHBD members, we have also successfully obtained two joint research grants from ANSO: one on emerging infectious diseases with partners from Brazil, France, and Pakistan (RMB 1.3 million, 2023-2025), and another on tuberculosis infection in monkeys with partners in Thailand and the US (US$ 150,000, 2023-2025). Up to date, 28 institutions from 12 countries have joined the BHBD Alliance. Taken together, all these activities have promoted knowledge exchanges and sharing on biodiversity and health among global researchers, increased the influence of BHBD and IUBS, and expanded networks for international collaborations.