DataStart provides real-world experiences for students while helping entrepreneurial companies

Graduate students from six universities in the southern U.S. will spend the summer working on data challenges important to the success of new and growing technology companies thanks to a program called the Southern Startup Internship Program in Data Science (DataStart).

Read more

In genomics and other medical fields, researchers are now able to capture and store large amounts of data from electronic medical records (EMRs). But while capturing massive amounts of medical data is becoming common, figuring out how to analyze, interpret and use it in ways that benefit the health of patients remains challenging.

To meet the needs of researchers and clinicians eager to translate data into better health outcomes, researchers at RENCI and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine developed a prototype Genomic Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS). The framework so far has been used in genomic research projects, such as NCGENES, a project led by the UNC genetics department to evaluate the use of whole exome sequencing as a diagnostic tool in clinical settings. However, the developers of the CDSS have conceptualized it to be used in other data-intensive medical fields, such as medical imaging. It is designed to provide clinicians with a dynamic visual snapshot of the genomic data most relevant to an individual patient and to capture, store, and curate more comprehensive genomic data so it can be easily accessed and used in future research and clinical practices.

Read more

WDC to provide targeted technology enhancements to expand data movement options for life science and other data intensive workflows

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Helping the world harness the power of data, Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) today announced that it is now an active contributor to iRODS, a membership-based consortium that develops and supports the integrated Rule-Oriented Data System (iRODS),  an open source software platform for storing, searching, and sharing large files and datasets. Thousands of organizations around the world use iRODS for flexible, policy-based management of files and metadata that span across diverse storage devices and locations. Western Digital Corporation will initially contribute advanced HGST S3 connector technology to the iRODS architecture to enhance cloud connectivity.

Read more

Consortium members, users to demo open source software for data management

CHAPEL HILL, NC, April 4, 2016 – Attendees and media at this week’s Bio-IT World Conference and Expo in Boston will have plenty of opportunities to learn about iRODS, the integrated Rule Oriented Data System, and the iRODS Consortium, the membership organization that supports the development of iRODS as free open source software for data discovery, workflow automation, secure collaboration, and data virtualization.

Read more

Users invited to present talks, demonstrations, and posters.

Users of the integrated Rule Oriented Data System (iRODS) from around the globe will gather in Chapel Hill in June to discuss iRODS-enabled applications and discoveries, technologies powered by iRODS, and the future of iRODS and the iRODS Consortium.

The week of activities begins Tuesday, June 7 with one-day workshops aimed at beginner and advanced iRODS users. The iRODS User Group Meeting (UGM) will follow on June 8 and 9. Registration for both the workshops and the UGM runs through May 27 and early bird discounts are available through April 22.  Participants can register for both the UGM and a workshop or the UGM only. To register visit http://irods.org/ugm2016/.

Read more