Toward more transparent and reproducible omics studies through a common metadata checklist and data publications.
Biological processes are fundamentally driven by complex interactions between biomolecules. Integrated high-throughput omics studies enable multifaceted views of cells, organisms, or their communities. With the advent of new post-genomics technologies, omics studies are becoming increasingly prevalent; yet the full impact of these studies can only be realized through data harmonization, sharing, meta-analysis, and integrated research. These essential steps require consistent generation, capture, and distribution of metadata. To ensure transparency, facilitate data harmonization, and maximize reproducibility and usability of life sciences studies, we propose a simple common omics metadata checklist. The proposed checklist is built on the rich ontologies and standards already in use by the life sciences community. The checklist will serve as a common denominator to guide experimental design, capture important parameters, and be used as a standard format for stand-alone data publications. The omics metadata checklist and data publications will create efficient linkages between omics data and knowledge-based life sciences innovation and, importantly, allow for appropriate attribution to data generators and infrastructure science builders in the post-genomics era. We ask that the life sciences community test the proposed omics metadata checklist and data publications and provide feedback for their use and improvement.
Research Papers
- Conjunction of factors triggering waves of seasonal influenza
- Algorithmic Bio-surveillance For Precise Spatio-temporal Prediction of Zoonotic Emergence
- Profiling Reactive Metabolites via Chemical Trapping and Targeted Mass Spectrometry
- Does the brain listen to the gut?
- (Meta)genomic insights into the pathogenome of Cellulosimicrobium cellulans
- A robust adaptive denoising framework for real-time artifact removal in scalp EEG measurements
- Imputing Gene Expression in Uncollected Tissues Within and Beyond GTEx
- Small Rad51 and Dmc1 Complexes Often Co-occupy Both Ends of a Meiotic DNA Double Strand Break
- Controlling the Cyanobacterial Clock by Synthetically Rewiring Metabolism
- Choosing experiments to accelerate collective discovery