Toward a common standard for data and specimen provenance in life sciences

Published

April 18, 2023

Author(s)

Rudolf Wittner, Petr Holub, Cecilia Mascia, Francesca Frexia, Heimo Müller, Markus Plass, Clare M Allocca, Fay Betsou, Tony Burdett, Ibon Cancio, Adriane Chapman, Martin Chapman, Mélanie Courtot, Vasa Curcin, Johann Eder, Mark Elliot, Katrina Exter, Carole Goble, Martin Golebiewski, Bron Kisler, Andreas Kremer, Simone Leo, Sheng Lin-Gibson, Anna Marsano, Marco Mattavelli, Josh Moore, Hiroki NAKAE, Isabelle PERSEIL, Ayat Salman, James Sluka, Stian Soiland-Reyes, Caterina Strambio De Castillia, michael sussman, Jason Swedlow, Kurt Zatloukal, Joerg Geiger

Abstract

Open and practical exchange, dissemination, and reuse of specimens and data have become a fundamental requirement for life sciences research. The quality of the data obtained and thus the findings and knowledge derived is thus significantly influenced by the quality of the samples, the experimental methods, and the data analysis. Therefore, a comprehensive and precise documentation of the pre-analytical conditions, the analytical procedures, and the data processing are essential to be able to assess the validity of the research results. With the increasing importance of the exchange, reuse, and sharing of data and samples, procedures are required that enable cross-organizational documentation, traceability, and non-repudiation. At present, this information on the provenance of samples and data is mostly either sparse, incomplete, or incoherent. Since there is no uniform framework, this information is usually only provided within the organization and not interoperably. At the same time, the collection and sharing of biological and environmental specimens increasingly require definition and documentation of benefit sharing and compliance to regulatory requirements rather than consideration of pure scientific needs. In this publication, we present an ongoing standardization effort to provide trustworthy machine-actionable documentation of the data lineage and specimens. We would like to invite experts from the biotechnology and biomedical fields to further contribute to the standard.

Citation

Learning Health Systems

Volume

8

Issue

1

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1002/lrh2.10365

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Citation

Wittner, R. , Holub, P. , Mascia, C. , Frexia, F. , Müller, H. , Plass, M. , Allocca, C. , Betsou, F. , Burdett, T. , Cancio, I. , Chapman, A. , Chapman, M. , Courtot, M. , Curcin, V. , Eder, J. , Elliot, M. , Exter, K. , Goble, C. , Golebiewski, M. , Kisler, B. , Kremer, A. , Leo, S. , Lin-Gibson, S. , Marsano, A. , Mattavelli, M. , Moore, J. , NAKAE, H. , PERSEIL, I. , Salman, A. , Sluka, J. , Soiland-Reyes, S. , Strambio De Castillia, C. , sussman, M. , Swedlow, J. , Zatloukal, K. and Geiger, J. (2023), Toward a common standard for data and specimen provenance in life sciences, Learning Health Systems, [online], https://doi.org/10.1002/lrh2.10365, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=961310 (Accessed December 14, 2025)