Manifold Platform

The Biospecimen Collection and Banking Core (BC²) has built a comprehensive data platform for the  IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center research community. This data platform combines clinical data, cancer registry data, biospecimen data, and genomic sequencing data into one user-friendly application. Further, this data has been harmonized and further enriched with additional annotations. For example, the platform uses public databases, such as NIH s ClinVar, to describe whether genetic variations are known to be likely benign or potentially harmful.

Researchers can use this platform to generate hypotheses, build cohorts, share notes, access genomic files and find biospecimens. Discovering and identifying BC² resources has never been easier or faster.

The Manifold platform will integrate complex and disparate data pipelines (including Cancer Registry, sample availability, sequencing data, and medical history data sources) in one location, enhancing their use in sample and data storage and distribution. This integration will streamline biobanking efforts, improving usability and search functionality to better support both basic and translational research. Researchers will be able to search sample availability, create curated cohorts for research use, access sequencing data for a limited sample set, and conduct sophisticated data analysis within the platform.

These screenshots show examples of available data:

Additionally, Manifold offers another feature called Workbench.

The Workbench will act as a central hub for researchers to streamline their work. With this feature, users can carry out all their work in one place—with an integrated view of key project details such as data, transformations, notes, and comments. Researchers will have complete control over their projects, with options to manage private and collaborative workspaces within the same platform. They can assign access permissions and securely share their work with colleagues internally, ensuring seamless and secure collaboration. This enhanced environment will not only improve the flow of research but also foster collaboration by breaking down barriers between teams and departments.

These screenshots show examples of the Workbench feature.