Managing Data with the Experiment Data Depot

Ask ten researchers for their research data, and they will likely provide it in over a hundred varying data formats. At the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), we are developing the Experiment Data Depot (EDD) to help lower the barrier to collaboration and increase the reproducibility of results.

The EDD is a database and set of software tools aiming to organize and annotate actionable data with experimental conditions and other meta-data. Our focus is to build a tool to collate processed results from multiple inputs; from laboratory information management systems (LIMS), to outputs directly from instruments, to tables written at the bench. The collected data can then be exported to computational models, analysis tools, visualization packages, or other applications. The database framework organizes data in a hierarchical structure for each experiment. Additional metadata can be added at each level of hierarchy, and can later be queried; e.g. finding all data linked to a particular strain. Basic access controls are built in, to allow only specific individuals or groups to view or edit data.