CaBIG

The cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid®, or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CaBIG caBIG®] is an initiative of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Cancer_Institute National Cancer Institute] , part of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Institutes_of_Health National Institutes of Health] .

caBIG®, is a voluntary virtual informatics infrastructure that connects data, research tools, scientists, and organizations to leverage their combined strengths and expertise in an open federated environment with widely accepted standards and shared tools.

Mission

The mission of caBIG® is to develop a truly collaborative information network that accelerates the discovery of new approaches for the detection, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer, ultimately improving patient outcomes.

Goals

The goals of caBIG® are to:
* Connect scientists and practitioners through a shareable and interoperable infrastructure
* Develop standard rules and a common language to more easily share information
* Build or adapt tools for collecting, analyzing, integrating, and disseminating information associated with cancer research and care.

Cornerstones

Since its inception, caBIG® has committed to the following cornerstones:

* Federated: caBIG® software and resources are widely distributed, interlinked, and available to everyone in the cancer research community, but institutions maintain local control over their own resources and data.
* Open-development: [https://cabig.nci.nih.gov/tools/toolsearch_view caBIG® Tools] and [https://cabig.nci.nih.gov/inventory/Infrastructure/ Infrastructure] are being developed through an open, participatory process. caBIG® leverages existing resources whenever possible, rather than building new tools in every case.
* Open-access: caBIG® resources are freely obtainable by the cancer community to ensure broad data-sharing and collaboration.
* Open-source: The caBIG® source code is available to view, alter, and redistribute.

Workspaces

The caBIG® program is organized into three categories of [https://cabig.nci.nih.gov/index_html/workspaces/index_html Workspace] :

[https://cabig.nci.nih.gov/workspaces/domain Domain Workspaces]

*Clinical Trial Management Systems (CTMS): Develops a comprehensive set of modular, interoperable, and standards-based tools designed to meet the diverse clinical trials management needs of the Cancer Center community.
*Integrative Cancer Research (ICR): Produces modular and interoperable tools and interfaces that provide for integration between biomedical informatics applications and data. This enables translational and integrative research by providing for the integration of clinical and basic research data.
*In Vivo Imaging (IMAG): Creates, optimizes, and validates tools and methods to extract meaning from and share imaging data.
*Tissue Banks and Pathology Tools (TBPT): Develops a set of tools to inventory, track, mine, and visualize biospecimens and related annotations from geographically dispersed repositories.

[https://cabig.nci.nih.gov/workspaces/cross Cross-Cutting Workspaces]

* Architecture (ARCH): Develops the platform that integrates diverse data types and supports interoperable analytic tools. This group also defines syntactic interoperability, mentors developers, and develops [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CaGrid caGrid] .
* Vocabularies and Common Data Elements (VCDE): Evaluates and integrates systems and standards for vocabularies and common data elements and ontology content development, as well as software systems for content delivery. They also define semantic interoperability, train and provide mentors, and provide guidelines for the adoption of standards and CDE harmonization.

[https://cabig.nci.nih.gov/workspaces/strategic Strategic-Level Workspaces]

*Data Sharing and Intellectual Capital (DSIC): Addresses issues and develops recommendations related to data sharing, patient privacy, intellectual capital, security, and other other regulatory and proprietary issues.
* Documentation and Training (D&T): Defines guidelines, processes, templates, and tools for developing consistent software documentation and training materials.
*Strategic Planning (SP): Assists caBIG® senior leadership with strategic planning and vision development activities.

External links

* [http://cabig.cancer.gov/ Public Information Website]
* [https://cabig.nci.nih.gov/ Official caBIG® Website]
* [http://ncicb.nci.nih.gov/ NCI Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology (CBIIT)]