Translational Research IT (TraIT)

About TraIT

The Translational Research IT (TraIT) project provides an easy-to-access and easy-to-use infrastructure for data sharing, together with a set of tools for further exploration of the collected data. It operates across the four major domains of translational research: clinical, imaging, biobanking, and experimental (any-omics). TraIT gives scientists within multi-site projects the resources needed to share and disseminate data and analyses. Importantly, the project aimed to adopt and adapt existing and proven solutions (e.g. XNAT, Ldot, cBioPortal) rather than embarking on major software development projects. As of January 2020, more than 4000 researchers from over 400 studies and dispersed over more than 500 locations are making use of one or more of TraIT’s services. Visit the TraIT website for more information about the project.

Realizing sustainable infrastructure for biomedical research

Since its inception, TraIT has grown from 11 to 32 participating organizations, including all Dutch university medical centers, charities, and a variety of private partners. CTMM initiated the project in close collaboration with members of the research community, identifying opportunities for partnerships and developing an efficient and well-defined management structure. From January 2016, CTMM’s roles and responsibilities within TraIT are provided under the Lygature brand, while the core TraIT facilities are integrated into Health-RI as of January 2020:

• Governance.  Lygature is the legal entity coordinating TraIT. It takes responsibility for sustainability and legal discussions around the setup of a long lasting infrastructure for the Dutch and international biomedical community. In addition, Lygature provides financial management.
   
• Innovation activities. To ensure sustainability, Lygature collaborates with consortium partners to attract new funding for maintenance and extension of the TraIT infrastructure in the context of Health-RI. Lygature is pivotal in creating strategic alliances with other infrastructure organizations (national and international), research funders, and patient representatives, so that further development can take place.
   
• Operations. Lygature heads the operations team, which works on professional deployment of infrastructure, and of quality and service management. The team also handles end-user support and education, as well as branding and communications.

TraIT is an important example of Lygature’s mission to bring academia, industry, and society together in research infrastructure projects that allow participants to benefit from shared resources and data. It has required extensive expertise in data infrastructure, management, and science, and has helped to build many long-term partnerships. Lygature, together with the TraIT partners, continues to foster these partnerships.

Lygature together with