COVIDome Explorer Online Portal Launched to Accelerate Global COVID-19 Research

To further accelerate COVID-19 research globally, researchers at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus have created a multidimensional dataset, known as the COVIDome dataset, derived from patients. COVID-19 hospitalized versus negative controls. The team has now launched an online public portal called COVIDome Explorer to share this data in real time.

Today a new article published in the journal Cell reports detailing how the datasets were generated while also explaining how to use the COVIDome Explorer for rapid hypothesis testing, hypothesis generation, and real-time discoveries by experts and non-experts.

“Our mission for the COVIDome Explorer is to enable the development of better prevention, diagnostic and therapeutic tools for the clinical management of COVID-19,” said Joaquin Espinosa, PhD, professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Colorado and Executive Director of the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. “While great strides have been made in all of these areas, the speed of COVID-19 research has been hampered by the lack of widely accessible public datasets that can be analyzed and reanalyzed in real time by anyone. who.”

He adds, “We expect this online portal to quickly accelerate COVID-19 data sharing, hypothesis testing and discoveries around the world. “

To create the COVIDome Explorer, experts in different fields of biomedical research at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus created multidimensional datasets in their labs. These have been collected and combined to be shared through the online portal. Data sets include demographic and clinical data, as well as paired whole blood transcriptome analysis, plasma and red blood cell metabolome analysis, deep immune phenotyping by mass cytometry, and seroconversion testing.

The COVIDome datasets and the corresponding explorer were modeled after similar efforts underway at the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome, where members of the COVIDome team previously developed the Human Trisome project and its TrisomExplorer data portal. . By leveraging the advanced tools and technologies of the TrisomExplorer, the team was able to create the COVIDome Explorer within weeks and make it available to the public to help advance COVID-19 research.

The global health crisis imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic further underscores the need for rapid collaboration, open access to manuscripts under review, and data sharing. Now more than ever, with the rise of the COVID-19 Delta variant and the rise in groundbreaking infection rates, having easy and rapid access to COVID data is essential to fight the pandemic and do so. advance the best available scientific data. “

Thomas Flaig, MD, Vice Chancellor of Research, CU Anschutz Medical Campus

The document, which users are encouraged to read, explains how to use the online dashboards and links to data files that guide users, such as catalogs of proteins, metabolites, cytokines, and immune cells present. in each dataset.

For example, to facilitate quick and broad access to the COVIDome dataset, each dataset (after data retention and quality control) is linked at the sample level with a unique identifier, allowing for cross-referencing. between platforms. Additionally, the COVIDome Explorer hosts six dashboards: Cohort, Transcriptome, Proteome, Cytokines, Metabolome, and Immune Maps. And each dashboard runs in its own isolated and protected environment.

The COVIDome project is a partnership between CU School of Medicine and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, co-led by Joaquin Espinosa, PhD, and Thomas Flaig, MD. To learn more, visit www.covidome.org.