TACC Launches CFDE Cloud Workspace for NIH Common Fund Datasets

Common Fund Data Ecosystem (CFDE) Cloud Workspace expands access to large-scale biomedical data, accelerates discovery in human health research

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    The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin, in collaboration with the Galaxy Team at Johns Hopkins University and Penn State University, as well as CloudBank at the San Diego Supercomputer Center, today announced the public launch of the Common Fund Data Ecosystem (CFDE) Cloud Workspace.

    The new platform enables researchers to seamlessly access, analyze, and integrate datasets from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Common Fund, lowering barriers to data-driven biomedical discovery.

    The CFDE Cloud Workspace brings together powerful cloud and high-performance computing resources, a rich suite of analysis tools, and simplified access pathways for researchers at all experience levels. The platform supports a wide range of research workflows, both for exploring datasets interactively, as well as executing complex large-scale analyses.

    James Carson, Principal Investigator and Director of Life Science Computing, Texas Advanced Computing Center, The University of Texas at Austin

    “This platform represents a significant step toward democratizing access to the full breadth of data collected across the NIH Common Fund programs,” said James Carson, principal investigator of the CFDE Cloud Workspace and Director of Life Science Computing at TACC. “The workspace can enable more researchers across all levels of experience to pursue innovative studies that were previously out of reach.”

    “By simplifying access and providing introductory compute resources at no-cost, we’re opening the door for new ideas, new collaborations, and faster progress toward improving human health,” Carson added.

    The CFDE Cloud Workspace offers an extensive and extensible environment for biomedical data exploration and analysis, including:

    • A user-friendly workspace for managing, integrating, and analyzing NIH Common Fund datasets with reproducible workflows.
    • Flexible computational environments, including a web interface, Jupyter Notebooks, VS Code, and command-line access, supporting a wide range of research styles and levels of expertise.
    • The Galaxy Project, providing a trusted, open-source foundation widely used in genomics, proteomics, and other omics research.
    • Built as a scalable, multi-cloud architecture, integrating TACC’s advanced computing resources with commercial cloud platforms via CloudBank.
    • Streamlined onboarding through a centralized portal offering account creation, documentation, training, and analysis tools.
    • No-cost introductory compute tier, designed to support new users and trainees entering the CFDE.

    The platform allows researchers to load their own data, connect it with resources across the CFDE, and build, share, and publish fully reproducible scientific workflows.

    By bringing together mature technologies, advanced computing infrastructure, and broad training support, the CFDE Cloud Workspace can cultivate a larger and more collaborative biomedical research community.

    The platform is designed to enhance scientific rigor, promote data sharing, and improve reproducibility while accelerating progress in human health research.

    Researchers can begin using the platform today at: https://cfdeworkspace.org

    Learn more about this award and other NIH CFDE initiatives on the Funded Research page. The Cloud Workspace Implementation Center (CWIC) is funded under NIH Award #OT2OD037936.