Sustaining critical life science resources
Open-access biological databases have long served as pillars for life science research, providing freely accessible data that drive discovery across fields like genetics, ecology, and neuroscience. However, sustaining these resources has been a long-standing challenge, and several Illinois faculty members, including those in the University Library and the College of Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences (ACES) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, are working to build awareness of the problem as data resources are exposed to new pressures due to widespread federal funding cuts.
One instrumental resource is WormAtlas, a database detailing the anatomy of the model organism C. elegans, including tens of thousands of highly detailed anatomical images. The resource was recently migrated from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine to Illinois under the direction of Nate Schroeder, an associate professor in the Department of Crop Sciences, who consulted with the Library’s Research Data Service during the migration. Schroeder recently co-authored a perspective for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that highlights the role of community-driven data resources in enabling Nobel Prize-winning discoveries. Vignettes of how these resources contributed to the 2002, 2006, 2008, and 2024 Prizes are included, with six Nobel Prize-winning scientists co-authoring the perspective with Schroeder and others. “A strength of C. elegans as a model organism is the community of researchers who study it and the community resource they’ve developed,” says Schroeder. “By aggregating knowledge, these resources are essential for the thousands of scientists who use C. elegans to maximize their research efficiency.”
Illinois' engagement with this resource, along with others, reflects its leadership in advancing open knowledge across campus. Heidi Imker, the Allen and Elaine Avner Professor of Interdisciplinary Research and director of the Research Data Service in the Library, notes that academic libraries across the country have been doing truly heroic work rescuing “at risk” data, including efforts like the volunteer-led Data Rescue Project. “Efforts like these are critical if resources are to be resurrected one day,” Imker notes, but admits there will be gaps since community resources provide deep disciplinary expertise and extensive user support along with the data. “Supporting these data resources is just as much about preserving and enabling the networks of expertise and knowledge that fuel scientific discoveries,” Imker concludes. “We have to hope that resources like these can continue to exist or brace for less efficient science.”