Creating cloud platforms for supporting FAIR data management in biomedical research projects

TL;DR

This paper describes a flexible and cost-effective approach to building customized cloud platforms for biomedical research, supporting FAIR data principles.

Contribution

The novel contribution is a microservice-based approach for creating adaptable cloud platforms tailored to specific biomedical research projects.

Findings

Customized cloud platforms offer advantages over multi-project platforms in biomedical research.

The approach is based on a microservice architecture and a portfolio of supported services.

The method is transferable and adaptable to other research environments and service providers.

Abstract

Biomedical research projects are becoming increasingly complex and require technological solutions that support all phases of the data lifecycle and application of the FAIR principles. At the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), we have developed and established a flexible and cost-effective approach to building customized cloud platforms for supporting research projects. The approach is based on a microservice architecture and on the management of a portfolio of supported services. On this basis, we created and maintained cloud platforms for several international research projects. In this article, we present our approach and argue that building customized cloud platforms can offer multiple advantages over using multi-project platforms. Our approach is transferable to other research environments and can be easily adapted by other projects and other service providers.

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