947 research outputs found
The genome architecture of the Collaborative Cross mouse genetic reference population.
Get PDFThe Collaborative Cross Consortium reports here on the development of a unique genetic resource population. The Collaborative Cross (CC) is a multiparental recombinant inbred panel derived from eight laboratory mouse inbred strains. Breeding of the CC lines was initiated at multiple international sites using mice from The Jackson Laboratory. Currently, this innovative project is breeding independent CC lines at the University of North Carolina (UNC), at Tel Aviv University (TAU), and at Geniad in Western Australia (GND). These institutions aim to make publicly available the completed CC lines and their genotypes and sequence information. We genotyped, and report here, results from 458 extant lines from UNC, TAU, and GND using a custom genotyping array with 7500 SNPs designed to be maximally informative in the CC and used a novel algorithm to infer inherited haplotypes directly from hybridization intensity patterns. We identified lines with breeding errors and cousin lines generated by splitting incipient lines into two or more cousin lines at early generations of inbreeding. We then characterized the genome architecture of 350 genetically independent CC lines. Results showed that founder haplotypes are inherited at the expected frequency, although we also consistently observed highly significant transmission ratio distortion at specific loci across all three populations. On chromosome 2, there is significant overrepresentation of WSB/EiJ alleles, and on chromosome X, there is a large deficit of CC lines with CAST/EiJ alleles. Linkage disequilibrium decays as expected and we saw no evidence of gametic disequilibrium in the CC population as a whole or in random subsets of the population. Gametic equilibrium in the CC population is in marked contrast to the gametic disequilibrium present in a large panel of classical inbred strains. Finally, we discuss access to the CC population and to the associated raw data describing the genetic structure of individual lines. Integration of rich phenotypic and genomic data over time and across a wide variety of fields will be vital to delivering on one of the key attributes of the CC, a common genetic reference platform for identifying causative variants and genetic networks determining traits in mammals
Specifications and Development of Interoperability Solution dedicated to Multiple Expertise Collaboration in a Design Framework
Get PDFThis paper describes the specifications of an interoperability platform based on the PPO (Product Process Organization) model developed by the French community IPPOP in the context of collaborative and innovative design. By using PPO model as a reference, this work aims to connect together heterogonous tools used by experts easing data and information exchanges. After underlining the growing needs of collaborative design process, this paper focuses on interoperability concept by describing current solutions and their limits. Then a solution based on the flexibility of the PPO model adapted to the philosophy of interoperability is proposed. To illustrate these concepts, several examples are more particularly described (robustness analysis, CAD and Product Lifecycle Management systems connections)
Comparing consortial repositories: a model-driven analysis
No full textThis study aims to provide a comparative assessment of different repository consortia as a reference to inform future work in the area. A review of the literature was used to identify repository consortia, and their features were compared. Three models of consortial repositories were derived from this comparison, based on their structure and aims. The consortial models were based around either: creating a shared repository for the members, developing a repository software platform or creating a metadata harvesting service to aggregate content. Using case studies of each type of repository consortium, each model was assessed in terms of its particular strengths and weaknesses. These strengths were then compared across the models to enable those considering a consortial repository project to assess which model, or combination of models, would best address their needs and to aid in project planning
The ENIGMA Consortium: large-scale collaborative analyses of neuroimaging and genetic data
Get PDFThe Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) Consortium is a collaborative network of researchers working together on a range of large-scale studies that integrate data from 70 institutions worldwide. Organized into Working Groups that tackle questions in neuroscience, genetics, and medicine, ENIGMA studies have analyzed neuroimaging data from over 12,826 subjects. In addition, data from 12,171 individuals were provided by the CHARGE consortium for replication of findings, in a total of 24,997 subjects. By meta-analyzing results from many sites, ENIGMA has detected factors that affect the brain that no individual site could detect on its own, and that require larger numbers of subjects than any individual neuroimaging study has currently collected. ENIGMA's first project was a genome-wide association study identifying common variants in the genome associated with hippocampal volume or intracranial volume. Continuing work is exploring genetic associations with subcortical volumes (ENIGMA2) and white matter microstructure (ENIGMA-DTI). Working groups also focus on understanding how schizophrenia, bipolar illness, major depression and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affect the brain. We review the current progress of the ENIGMA Consortium, along with challenges and unexpected discoveries made on the way
The Collaborative Cross, a community resource for the genetic analysis of complex traits
No full textThe goal of the Complex Trait Consortium is to promote the development of resources that can be used to understand, treat and ultimately prevent pervasive human diseases. Existing and proposed mouse resources that are optimized to study the actions of isolated genetic loci on a fixed background are less effective for studying intact polygenic networks and interactions among genes, environments, pathogens and other factors. The Collaborative Cross will provide a common reference panel specifically designed for the integrative analysis of complex systems and will change the way we approach human health and disease.
TTA school-based research consortium initiative, the evaluation, final report
No full textThis is the final report of the evaluation of th School-Based Research Consortium Initiative which ran in England from 1998 to 2001. The initiative was sponsored via a public/private partnership between the Teacher Training Agency (TTA), a UK Government agency, and the Centre for British Teachers (CfBT), a private not-for-profit company. The aim of the initiative was to create local infrastructures of support and action for teachers to engage ‘in and with’ research. Those infrastructures were made up of consortia, consisting in each case of a small number of schools together with a university department of education and at least one local education authority (LEA). Over the three years that it ran, the initiative spawned a considerable range and volume of research activities, including peer observation of teaching, peer review of videos of teaching, interview-based study, surveys measuring such things as rewards and sanctions in the classroom. In addition to well-developed teacher-university collaborations and some joint work with local education authorities, there were many examples of teacher-teacher collaboration (some of it between different schools), and also times when teachers and pupils worked together to devise, carry out or interpret research activity. In practice, the initiative created an environment in which it was possible to develop new research relationships across a range of partners, rather than merely transfer the locus of research to schools. Three aspects of teacher experience of the initiative are important to highlight. The first was the overwhelming testimony of teachers that the value of the initiative for them was the rediscovery of their professional confidence in a climate of low trust accountability, characterised by constant monitoring, target setting and bureaucratic demands. The second was the growth of familiarity with research practices that teachers gained through working collaboratively with their peers, with pupils, and with colleagues from the university. The third was how the process of research itself was necessarily situated in teachers’ own practices
Consortium for Robotics and Unmanned Systems Education and Research (CRUSER) FY14 Annual Report
Get PDFPrepared for: Raymond R. Buettner Jr., CRUSER DirectorThis report is not the work of one author, but a compilation of event reports and funded research summaries for FY14The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Consortium for Robotics and Unmanned Systems Education and Research (CRUSER) provides a collaborative environment and community of interest for the advancement of unmanned systems (UxS) education and research endeavors across the Navy (USN), Marine Corps (USMC) and Department of Defense (DoD). CRUSER is a Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) initiative to build an inclusive community of interest on the application of unmanned systems (UxS) in military and naval operations. This FY14 annual report summarizes CRUSER activities in its fourth year of operations (2014), and highlights future plans
BioBlitz: Promoting cross border Research and collaborative Practices for Biodiversity Conservation
Get PDFThis brief covers policy and research topics in biodiversity conservation (e.g., species and protected areas), invasive alien species, coastal and marine management, and strategies for public engagement. The purpose of the policy brief is to synthesise evidence of the Bioblitz approach, highlight the valuable contribution it makes to public engagement, the scientific process, and environmental management and policy, and explore how these potentials of the BioBlitz methodology can be enhanced by increasing cross-boundary cooperation and exchanges. The policy brief has been developed as collaborative process by a newly founded ECSA working group on BioBlitzes that brings together organisers of such activities from around the world
Consortium Authorship:Ethical Tensions in Emerging Authorship Practices in Interdisciplinary Collaborative Research
Get PDFTraditional conceptions of academic authorship, e.g., the seemingly self-evident assumption that an author is someone who actually writes a text, is challenged by the complexity, scale, and collaborative nature of scientific research. Authors are expected to make a substantial contribution and to assume accountability for all aspects of the work, but in practice, many individuals listed as authors fail to meet all these criteria, notably in biomedical fields. In view of this tension between norm and practice, new conceptions of authorship have emerged, reflecting the growing importance of team science. This paper assesses whether consortium authorship as an emerging practice (also known as ‘group authorship’ or ‘team authorship’) offers a viable approach. Besides practical benefits, there is a normative dimension behind this concept, as it aims to acknowledge the importance of collaboration (seeing it as more than the sum of contributions attributable to individuals), but it also raises ethical questions concerning the responsibilities of consortium authors for the text as a whole. We opt for a case study approach, zooming in on experiences within a research consortium. Besides a literature review, we analyse the results of a deliberative workshop on consortium authorship and analyse how consortium authorship is currently handled in academic journals, notably in the biomedical field. We argue that consortium authorship works best when used in combination with individual authorship, but also notice that it challenges us to rethink the concept of academic authorship as such, for which we use Donna Haraway’s concept of sympoiesis as a starting point.</p
The Collaborative Cross: Rationale, Implementation, and Costs
No full text“Most genetic traits of interest in populations of humans and other organisms are determined by many factors, including genetic and environmental components, which interact in often unpredictable ways. For such complex traits, the whole is not only greater than the sum of its parts, it may be different from the sum of its parts. Thus, complex traits have a genetic architecture that consists of all of the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to the trait, as well as their magnitude and their interactions.” National Institute of General Medical Sciences, 1998, Complex Trait Workshop Report: www.nigms.nih.gov/news/reports/genetic_arch.html The goal of the Complex Trait Consortium (CTC) is to promote the development of resources that can be used to understand, treat, and ultimately prevent pervasive human diseases. Essentially all human diseases are complex in the sense that incidence, severity, and outcome are determined by interactions among many gene variants and environmental factors. Cancer, diabetes, heart and lung disease, Alzheimer’s, and infectious diseases fall into this category. Members of the CTC have spent the past year devising a detailed plan to generate a collaborative genetic resource that will greatly accelerate the study of mouse models of human disease. The resource is called the Collaborative Cross. This Report explains our objectives and provides an outline of the methods and costs associated with making the Collaborative Cross
- …
