Science must become more open and interactive

Making data available in an accessible and intelligent manner is one of modern science’s greatest challenges, says a scientific consultant to the Royal Society.

By Elton Alisson

Agência FAPESP – A June 2011 outbreak of Escherichia coli in Europe prompted research institutions around the world to publish the data that they had collected regarding the bacterium’s genome on the internet to assist with the identification of the strain that was causing the infection. 

Through this international scientific cooperation, the cause of the outbreak was identified as a new bacterial strain that included a combination of genetic material from two other E. coli strains. This new strain is resistant to 18 types of antibiotics and releases a toxin known as Shiga that causes kidney failure.

Based on the genetic sequencing of the new bacterial strain, it was possible to develop a test using a technique called real-time PCR that enabled the triage of contaminated patients in only a few hours, allowing these patients to be treated appropriately. Because of this test, it was possible to control the outbreak, which could otherwise have assumed global proportions.

In the opinion of Jessica Bland, scientific consultant to the UK’s Royal Society, the example provides an excellent illustration of how science can be performed in more open and interactive ways. According to her, the development of this type of openness is one of today’s greatest scientific challenges, and this development must be addressed quickly because of social issues.

“Science will have to review the ways in which it makes data available to develop, for example, new computational practices,” Bland said during the lecture she gave at the 1st Preparatory Meeting for the 2013 World Science Forum, which was held at FAPESP from August 29-31.

According to the consultant, one of the factors that is driving this paradigm shift in science is an increased demand for access to scientific data.

Citizens and legislators increasingly require scientific evidence to support decision-making processes that relate to various scientific issues, such as the use of genetically modified organisms. Concerns about these organisms have inspired public action in the UK, where demonstrations were recently held that protested the lack of discussion of this topic.

Moreover, companies also require greater access to scientific research results that can generate technological innovation and thereby increase their competitiveness. “In the UK and Europe today, there is discussion on how to make scientific data accessible to companies that could convert these data to economic development,” said Bland.

However, she noted that one of the factors restricting access to scientific data, even by researchers, is the fact that the data are not made available in a logical manner. “It’s not enough to simply open up scientific data. They must be made available in an accessible, intelligent, evaluable and reusable way,” affirmed Bland.

“Making data openly available in itself isn’t worth anything. Only when these four criteria are met can scientific data be considered truly open,” she asserted.

Limitations to freely disseminating scientific data

Bland noted that one of the limitations to making scientific data openly available is legitimate commercial interests. However, Bland said that research institutions already have mechanisms to protect their discoveries, which could result in patents or royalties.

In Europe, for example, certain research institutions have developed a system that allows pharmaceutical companies to compare their molecular databanks with the databanks of research institutions without obtaining access to strategic information that could lead to the development of a new drug.

“This shows that research institutions don’t need to be totally closed to publishing their data. They can make them available within a secure system,” she commented. According to Bland, security considerations constitute another concern with respect to freely disseminating scientific data; this issue was recently illustrated by another example.

In August 2011, scientists from the United States and Japan submitted two articles to Nature and Science for evaluation. These articles presented the results of a study that modified the avian influenza virus in the laboratory by combining avian flu with swine flu (H1N1).

The publication of these articles was halted at the request of the American government, which alleged that the discoveries could be used by terrorists to develop biological weapons. This request generated controversy; the World Health Organization (WHO) was in favor of the publication of the disputed articles, whereas the intelligence agencies of the United States continued to oppose the publication efforts.

In early May of 2012, Nature ignored the US government’s request and published one of the articles, claiming that any restricted information that has been distributed to university laboratories cannot remain confidential for long.

“What we see is that when scientific data are more openly available, security increases. We saw this in the case of publishing research data on the modified avian influenza virus. Being open to assuming the risk of publishing led to a more secure situation,” Bland stated.

The great hope, says the specialist, is that all scientific data will soon be available online and that they will be inter-operative.

“Data are integral parts of science and need to be communicated in a better way, not just included in scientific articles,” she affirmed.