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Open Science Prize winners

For Phase I of the Open Science Prize, six winning teams have each received prizes of $80,000 to develop their prototypes. Read more about the Prize winners below (teams listed in no particular order):

Fruit Fly Brain Observatory

Open Neuroimaging Laboratory

MyGene2: Accelerating Gene Discovery with Radically Open Data Sharing

OpenAQ: A Global Community Building the First Open, Real-Time Air Quality Data Hub for the World

Real-Time Evolutionary Tracking for Pathogen Surveillance and Epidemiological Investigation

OpenTrialsFDA



 




Fruit Fly Brain Observatory




Try out the prototype: fruitflybrain.org


Allowing researchers to better conduct modeling of mental and neurological diseases by connecting data related to the fly brain

Mental and neurological disorders pose major medical and socioeconomic challenges for society. Understanding human brain function and disease is arguably the biggest challenge in neuroscience. To help address this challenge, smaller but sufficiently complex brains can be used. This application will store and process connected data related to the neural circuits of the fruit fly brain. Using computational disease models, researchers can make targeted modifications that are difficult to perform in vivo with current genetic techniques. These capabilities will significantly accelerate the development of powerful new ways to predict the effects of pharmaceuticals upon neural circuit functions.

Using computational disease models, researchers can make targeted modifications that are difficult to perform in vivo with current genetic techniques. Models of neural circuits affected by disease will enable parallel recording of the responses of multiple components of a model circuit that are currently difficult - if not impossible - to perform in vivo. These capabilities will significantly accelerate the development of powerful new ways to predict the effects of pharmaceuticals upon neural circuit functions.

Watch a video about the Fruit Fly Brain Observatory prototype

See more detail on the team's profile page

See comments from the public on this prototype

The team

  • Aurel Lazar (Columbia University, United States)
  • Ann-Shyn Chiang (National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan)
  • Daniel Coca (University of Sheffield, United Kingdom)
  • Lev Givon (Columbia University, United States)
  • Dorian Florescu (University of Sheffield, United States)
  • Chung-Chuan Lo (National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan)
  • Luna Carlos (University of Sheffield, United Kingdom)
  • Paul Richmond (University of Sheffield, United Kingdom)
  • Adam Tomkins (University of Sheffield, United Kingdom)
  • Nikul Ukani (Columbia University, United States)
  • Chung-Heng Yeh (Columbia University, United States)
  • Yiyin Zhou (Columbia University, United States)

Contact 

Aurel Lazar

aurel[at]ee.columbia.edu



Open Neuroimaging Laboratory

 



Try out the prototype: openneu.ro/start

 

Advancing brain research by enabling collaborative annotation, discovery and analysis of brain imaging data

There is a massive volume of brain imaging data available on the internet, capturing different types of information such as brain anatomy, connectivity and function. This data represents an incredible effort of funding, data collection, processing, and the goodwill of thousands of participants. The development of a web-based application called BrainBox will enable distributed collaboration around annotation, discovery and analysis of publicly available brain imaging data, generating insight on critical societal challenges such as mental disorders but also on the structure of our cognition.

Watch a video about the Open Neuroimaging Laboratory prototype

See more detail on the team's profile page

See comments from the public on this prototype

The team

  • Roberto Toro (Institute Pasteur, France)
  • Sastrajit Ghosh (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States)
  • Katja Heuer (Max Plank Institute for Human and Brain Sciences, Germany)
  • Amy Robinson (Wired Differently, Inc., United States)

Contact 

Roberto Toro

rto[at]pasteur.fr


 



MyGene2: Accelerating Gene Discovery with Radically Open Data Sharing



Try out the prototype: mygene2.org


Facilitating the public sharing of health and genetic data through integration with publicly available information

Approximately 350 million people worldwide and over 30 million Americans have a rare disease. Most rare diseases are Mendelian conditions, which means that mutation(s) in a single gene can cause disease. Over 7,000 Mendelian conditions have been described to date, but the causal gene is known for only half. Consequently, close to 70 percent of families who undergo clinical testing lack a diagnosis. MyGene2 is a website that makes it easy and free for families with Mendelian conditions to share health and genetic information with other families, clinicians and researchers worldwide in order to make a match.

Watch a video about the MyGene2 prototype

See more detail on the team's profile page

See comments from the public on this prototype

The team

  • Jessica Chong (University of Washington, United States)
  • Michael Bamshad (University of Washington, United States)
  • Tudor Groza (Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Australia)
  • Craig McNamara (Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Australia)
  • Edwin Zhang (Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Australia)

Contact 

Jessica Chongjxchong[at]uw.edu



Real-Time Evolutionary Tracking for Pathogen Surveillance and Epidemiological Investigation



Try out the prototype: nextstrain.org

 

Permitting analysis of emerging epidemics such as Ebola, MERS-CoV and Zika

The goal of this project is to promote open sharing of viral genomic data and harness this data to make epidemiologically actionable inferences. The team will develop an integrated framework for real-time molecular epidemiology and evolutionary analysis of emerging epidemics, such as Ebola virus, MERS-CoV and Zika virus. The project will use an online visualization platform where the outputs of statistical analyses can be used by public health officials for epidemiological insights within days of samples being taken from patients.

See more detail on the team's profile page

See comments from the public on this prototype

The team

  • Trevor Bedford (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, United States)
  • Richard Neher (Biozentrum, University of Basel, Switzerland)

Contact 

Trevor Bedford

tbedford[at]fredhutch.org
 




OpenTrialsFDA



Try out the prototype: fda.opentrials.net



Enabling better access to drug approval packages submitted to and made available by the Food and Drug Administration

OpenTrialsFDA aims to increase access, discoverability and opportunities for re-use of a large volume of high quality information in the publically available Federal U.S. Food and Drug Administration drug approval packages. These review packages often contain information on clinical trials that have never been published in academic journals. However, despite their high value these FDA documents are notoriously difficult to access, aggregate, and search. As a consequence, they are rarely used by clinicians and researchers. The project will allow third party platforms to access, search, and present the information, thus maximizing discoverability and impact.

Watch a video about the OpenTrialsFDA prototype

See more detail on the team's profile page

See comments from the public on this prototype

The team

  • Emma Beer (Open Knowledge International, United Kingdom)
  • Stephen Abbott Pugh (Open Knowledge International, United Kingdom)
  • Ben Goldacre (University of Oxford, United Kingdom)
  • Erick Turner (Oregon Health & Science University, United States)
  • Paul Walsh (Open Knowledge International, United Kingdom)

Contact 

Stephen Abbott Pugh

stephen.abbottpugh[at]okfn.org



OpenAQ: A Global Community Building the First Open, Real-Time Air Quality Data Hub for the World

 



Try out the prototype: openaq.org

Providing real-time information on poor air quality by combining data from across the globe

Poor air quality is responsible for one out of eight deaths across the world. Accessible and timely air quality data is critical to advancing the scientific fight against air pollution and is essential for health research. OpenAQ aims to provide more timely information on poor air quality by combining the world’s publicly available, official real-time data onto one open-source and open data platform.

Watch a video about the OpenAQ prototype

See more detail on the team's profile page

See comments from the public on this prototype

The team

  • Michael Brauer (University of British Columbia, Canada)
  • Joseph Flasher (DevelopmentSeed, United States)
  • Michael Hannigan (University of Colorado, United States)
  • Christa Hasenkopf (OpenAQ, United States)
  • Asep Sofyan (Institut Teknologi, Indonesia)

Contact 

Christa Hasenkopf

christa[at]openaq.org