Interactive Collaboration Development System for Biomedical Research in a University

We describe a web-based interactive collaboration development system for biomedical research in a university for use by researchers, clinicians, and administrators. It can be used to (a) identify and seek collaborators, and (b) analyze the networks of collaborators in the university. At its core is a comprehensive biographic, publications, and grants database of all biomedical researchers in the university. The database has been created from public and institutional sources. Users can correct and complete the data. It is kept current by (a) semi-automatically updating from the original sources, and (b) users updating manually. In the future, users will be able to network within the system and manage collaborations using it. As of December 2008 the database had 4,800 researchers with 8,200 funded NIH and NSF grants, and 25,200 distinct Medline sourced publications. There are approximately 4,200 distinct grant-related keywords and 45,000 distinct MeSH terms