Andrew Lonie is the Director of the Australian Biocommons, and Associate Professor in the faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, and School of Computing and Information Systems. The Australian BioCommons is a national infrastructure initiative to build the computational systems, expertise and training that Australia’s life science researchers need to be globally competitive in the age of digital biology.
DSxConference 2020 Session
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
COVID-19 eResearch Experiences and Collaborations in Australasia and Southeast Asia – Upskilling Support for Pandemic Response, Preparedness and Recovery
Tuesday, December 1 | 1400 – 1535
Virtual Room 1
Title: The Australian BioCommons, a platform for estimated 30,000 publicly funded bioscience researchers in Australia.
Abstract:
Rapid advances in digital technologies and methods are proving transformational in life sciences. Internationally, major life sciences infrastructure initiatives are increasingly defining global scale data infrastructures; in particular, the US-based National Institutes of Health through their Data Commons program, and the EU-based ELIXIR program and EBI, are building data infrastructures that are, in many ways, equivalents of the global data-focussed infrastructures driving advances in astronomy and physics – infrastructures like Hubble, LIGO, and the LHC. And, like astronomy and physics, it is clear that world-class life sciences research in Australia increasingly depends on digital methods and data resources, and communities, that are globally sourced and supported.
In this BoF we’ll discuss the Australian BioCommons, how it is informed by close engagement with, and participation in, international programs, and how we will develop the national capability we will need to provide Australian researchers with access to global research infrastructure in which we are first order participants and contributors.