Co-led by WEHI and the RMH, in partnership with Snow Medical Research Foundation, the Snow Centre is spearheading a bold new approach to immune system research, tackling diseases that affect millions of Australians.

This partnership will enable researchers to securely access and collaborate on patient samples, such as blood and saliva, and associated research data – all from a single, secure hub.

Dr Paul Lyons, Snow Centre Chief Consulting Scientist, said: “This partnership gives us the tools to tackle some of the most complex and devastating immune diseases with a truly integrated approach.

“Easy access to data via this secure digital platform will enable our researchers to deliver transformational impacts for patients. This isn’t just technology – it’s a tool for change.”

Created by researchers for researchers, BioGrid has spent the past two decades serving the needs of Australia’s medical research community.

BioGrid will provide the platform to securely house the data and support the Snow Centre with the ethics and governance framework needed to facilitate responsible, compliant data sharing, enabling faster implementation of programs for researchers and protecting patient privacy.

Maureen Turner, CEO of BioGrid Australia, said: “BioGrid will remove long-standing barriers to data access and collaboration, through easy access to the Aridhia DRE platform. We’re enabling researchers to work faster and smarter.”

Aridhia’s industry leading research environment offers support for a wide variety of multi-modal data types including clinical data from Electronic Medical Records (EMR), medical imaging, and genomic data using common data models like OMOP and SDTM.

It empowers data owners to create secure access to their data collections by research teams through the ISO 27001, ISO 27701 and HITRUST certified platform.

It has a rich metadata catalog, configurable data governance, private, airlocked collaboration workspaces and built-in analytics tools to easily explore data and build and share a cohort without writing code.

Researchers and clinicians can now securely access and collaborate with national and international partners. As the scope of the Snow Centre’s work with collaborators grows, this will be particularly beneficial to this globally focused work.

The Snow Centre takes a whole of person approach to immune health research. The new platform will support the Snow Centre’s goals to deliver earlier diagnoses, better treatments and improved outcomes for patients living with debilitating immune conditions.

“This is about accelerating answers for patients,” Dr Lyons said. “This landmark partnership accelerates our ability to move from research to real-world impact.”