What's a NAM, and why does it need a Hub?
Researchers often use animals to study diseases or test new drugs. However, animal models do not always reflect how the human body works. New methods are being developed that use human cells instead. These include tools such as organ-on-a-chip systems, tiny lab-grown tissues called organoids, and in silico models. Together, these are known as New Approach Methodologies (NAMs). Importantly, these new methods more accurately model human biology than conventional animal models while also reducing the need for animal testing in research.
The NYU-Sage NAM Data Hub and Coordinating Center is a contributor to the Complement Animal Research In Experimentation (Complement-ARIE) Program funded by the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) Common Fund, which aims to support the development and dissemination of NAMs. The NAMHub is the central repository to collect, organize, and share data and tools associated with these new methods within the Complement-ARIE consortium and with the scientific community. All data, methods, and results generated are distributed under FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable; Wilkinson et al., 2016).
The NAMHub brings together many types of data, from basic lab measurements to complex 3D cell models and computer simulations. Experimental datasets include gene expression profiles (bulk RNA-seq, single-cell RNA-seq, spatial transcriptomics), high-content and confocal imaging, electrophysiology recordings, proteomics and metabolomics, drug and chemical screening results, and clinical data from patient donors. The NAMHub also hosts computational outputs such as machine learning models, quantitative systems pharmacology models, and gene regulatory networks. It acts as the main portal for storing and sharing these datasets along with related code and documentation, and includes tools to help researchers explore, analyze, and understand the data. The NAMHub team also ensures that the many different data types and methods work together smoothly by, for example, harmonizing contributed data to common standards.
Our coordination and outreach team also helps researchers collaborate and share their results to encourage the use of these new methods and reduce the need for animal testing in research.
What’s the relationship between the NAMHub and Synapse?
As you navigate the NAMHub, you're likely to come across mentions of Synapse. (You’ll see it in some of our URLs, too.) Here’s why:
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Synapse is an NIH listed generalist data repository that allows for collaborative data curation, sharing, computational analysis and modeling, and more. Being a generalist repository, it can host and disseminate any modality of data ('omics, imaging, multi-modal e.g. spatial transcriptomics) in the same space.
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Synapse was developed by Sage Bionetworks (or “Sage”), which partners with a team at New York University (NYU) to run the NYU-Sage NAM Data Hub and Coordinating Center. Sage Bionetworks is a non-profit organization based out of Seattle, Washington, that is dedicated to promoting and advancing open science.
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Synapse functions as the back end for the NAMHub. Together, the NYU and Sage members of the NAMHub team build and maintain all of the components of the customized version of Synapse that you encounter when you visit the NAMHub – everything from software tools for exploration to these help docs and much more.
Have questions, suggestions, or other feedback about the NAMHub? See our Contact Us page for the best ways to reach us.