Poster Sessions

BIOINFO-20

Jason Barnett

J. Barnett, B. Barrick, IRF Team, J. Lumpkin, Y. Huyen

Use of a Collaborative Web Portal to Facilitate Transparency and Manage Communications among Research Groups in the NIAID Integrated Research Facility

The NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) researches the pathophysiological processes associated with the severe morbidity in infections caused by viral hemorrhagic fevers and other Category A pathogens. The IRF is a rapidly growing organization staffed by research project leads as well as subject-area expert teams in Cell Culture, Comparative Medicine, Electron Microscopy, Imaging, Immunology, Pathology, and Virology. Communication among multiple teams presents a challenge compounded by physical separation of group members located at the main NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland and at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland. We present a custom collaborative web site built to accommodate the sharing of data among IRF subject-area teams and project leads based on Microsoft SharePoint. The NIAID OCICB Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch utilized the MS SharePoint platform to provide the IRF with a safe and secure web site that allows teams to quickly share data and information among their group. SharePoint offers a solution to manage many common laboratory administrative tasks such as maintaining a staff list, sharing protocol files, and scheduling and maintaining a laboratory calendar.