John W Sharp*, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, United States Track: Research Presentation Topic: Collaborative biomedical research, academic / scholarly communication, publishing and peer review Presentation Type: Poster presentation Submission Type: Single Presentation Building: LKSC Conference Center Stanford Room: Lower Lobby Date: 2011-09-18 12:00 PM – 01:00 PM Last modified: 2011-08-12

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To promote clinical research, a variety of tools must be available to allow for the flexibility required by different approaches to research and data collection. The availability of open source tools and rapid development platforms has been a boon to clinical research. Small studies require basic web forms and secure databases to store data quickly and allow exporting of the data for analysis. The increasing use of data from the electronic health record (EHR) requires large storage capabilities, the use of relational or NOSQL databases, strong query capabilities and visualization tools. Again, open source, rich media and light weight web services enable the management of these data sources. Open source tools are by design the creation of an interactive community of programmers and users. Traditional clinical trials, especially those regulated by the FDA, have required expensive, proprietary solutions. Now open source software can provide more flexibility although extensive validation procedures are still mandated by regulations. Social networks for research teams provide daily interaction on protocol changes and recruitment issues. Genomic data also requires massive storage capability. Genomic scientists have developed a broad range of open source tools developed in small online communities plus statistical packages like R for analysis. Social networking in the broader research community enables linkages between researchers with similar interests leading to collaborative grants and projects. Several open source tools are now available to enable scientific communities. Research efforts can now be supported by a variety of available tools which are lightweight and flexible. Most are now open source which are easy to support and maintain; open source tools are developed and enhanced through communities. Clinical research can benefit by these rapid development platforms appropriate to each type of study.