Supporting grid-based clinical trials in Scotland

Sinnott, R.O., Ajayi, O., Jiang, J., Stell, A.J. and Watt, J. (2008) Supporting grid-based clinical trials in Scotland. Health Informatics Journal, 14(2), pp. 79-93. (doi: 10.1177/1081180X08089317)

Abstract

As clinical trials and medical population studies grow in size and complexity, a computational infrastructure that can underpin such studies is highly desirable. This should address several key requirements: it should allow access to and usage of a range of distributed clinical data sets; it should support the efficient processing and analysis of the data obtained; it should have security at its heart and ensure that authorised individuals are able to see data that they are privileged to see and no more. Each clinical trial will have their own requirements on data sets and how they are used, hence a reusable framework that can support a variety of clinical trials and epidemiological studies offers many advantages. The MRC funded Virtual Organisations for Trials and Epidemiological Studies (VOTES) project is a collaborative project involving several UK universities specifically exploring this space. This paper presents the experiences and challenges in developing the Scottish component of this nationwide infrastructure, by the National e-Science Centre (NeSC) based at the University of Glasgow, and the inherent issues brought about by accessing and using the clinical data sets in a flexible, dynamic and secure manner.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Special Issue on Integrated Health Records
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Watt, Dr John and Sinnott, Professor Richard
• Authors: Sinnott, R.O., Ajayi, O., Jiang, J., Stell, A.J., and Watt, J.
• Subjects: T Technology > T Technology (General); R Medicine > R Medicine (General); Z Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources > ZA Information resources > ZA4050 Electronic information resources
• College/School: University Services > IT Services > Computing Service; University Services > IT Services > E-Science
• Journal Name: Health Informatics Journal
• ISSN: 1460-4582
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2009 Sage Publications