RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 MultiCellDS: a community-developed standard for curating microenvironment-dependent multicellular data JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 090456 DO 10.1101/090456 A1 Samuel H. Friedman A1 Alexander R. A. Anderson A1 David M. Bortz A1 Alexander G. Fletcher A1 Hermann B. Frieboes A1 Ahmadreza Ghaffarizadeh A1 David Robert Grimes A1 Andrea Hawkins-Daarud A1 Stefan Hoehme A1 Edwin F. Juarez A1 Carl Kesselman A1 Roeland M.H. Merks A1 Shannon M. Mumenthaler A1 Paul K. Newton A1 Kerri-Ann Norton A1 Rishi Rawat A1 Russell C. Rockne A1 Daniel Ruderman A1 Jacob Scott A1 Suzanne S. Sindi A1 Jessica L. Sparks A1 Kristin Swanson A1 David B. Agus A1 Paul Macklin YR 2016 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/12/08/090456.abstract AB Exchanging and understanding scientific data and their context represents a significant barrier to advancing research, especially with respect to information siloing. Maintaining information provenance and providing data curation and quality control help overcome common concerns and barriers to the effective sharing of scientific data. To address these problems in and the unique challenges of multicellular systems, we assembled a panel composed of investigators from several disciplines to create the MultiCellular Data Standard (MultiCellDS) with a use-case driven development process. The standard includes (1) digital cell lines, which are analogous to traditional biological cell lines, to record metadata, cellular microenvironment, and cellular phenotype variables of a biological cell line, (2) digital snapshots to consistently record simulation, experimental, and clinical data for multicellular systems, and (3) collections that can logically group digital cell lines and snapshots. We have created a MultiCellular DataBase (MultiCellDB) to store digital snapshots and the 200+ digital cell lines we have generated. MultiCellDS, by having a fixed standard, enables discoverability, extensibility, maintainability, searchability, and sustainability of data, creating biological applicability and clinical utility that permits us to identify upcoming challenges to uplift biology and strategies and therapies for improving human health.