Covid-19 Data Portal facilitates data sharing on the SARS-CoV-2 research

As the result of a joint effort made by the European Commission, EMBL-EBI (European Bioinformatics Institute of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory), ELIXIR (European Life-Science Infrastructure for Biological Information) and COMPARE project, as well as the EU Member States and other partners, a new tool to enable the rapid collection and sharing of available research data – Covid-19 Data Portal – was launched. The platform provides open, trusted, and scalable European and global environments and allows researchers to store and share datasets, such as DNA sequences, protein structures, data from pre-clinical research and clinical trials, as well as epidemiological data. The Covid-19 Data Portal is also a priority pilot, aimed at realising the objectives of the European EOSC (European Open Science Cloud) initiative, and builds upon established networks between EMBL-EBI and national public health data infrastructures.

Covid-19 Data Portal

Centred around the key principles of the ERA (European Research Area), research Ministers from all the EU Member States supported 10 priority actions of the ERAvsCorona Action Plan that covers short-term actions based on close coordination, cooperation, data sharing and joint efforts of the European Commission and EU Member States, thus responding to the SARS-CoV-2 / Covid-19 pandemic. The EU is taking strong actions to fight the pandemic. The European Commission is also committing hundreds of millions of euros in research and innovation measures to develop vaccines, treatments, diagnostic tests and medical systems to prevent further spread of the pandemic.

More information is available in the European Commission press release.

Data infrastructure behind the Covid-19 Portal. Image: Spencer Phillips