Tech & Tools

National Database for Autism Research Announces Its First Data Release

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) researchers can now use data from more than 10,000 participants enrolled in ASD studies. The National Database for Autism Research (NDAR), created by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), recently made the data available. Researchers can use the NDAR portal to perform queries that simultaneously yield results from multiple data sets. The portal was designed to provide tools to define and standardize data collected by different laboratories under different protocols. It was also built to ensure a collaborative approach and open data access to the whole ASD research community.

Researchers supported through the NIH Autism Centers of Excellence were the first to contribute data to NDAR in 2008. Since then, NDAR staff have been working to define, standardize, and transfer data into NDAR from earlier NIH programs, such as the Collaborative Programs of Excellence in Autism and Studies to Advance Autism Research and Treatment.

Data from the majority of ASD grants that were recently funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as well as data from other ASD studies conducted at the NIH will be submitted to and shared through NDAR. It is expected that data from newly initiated NIH-funded autism research will be added. Other ASD researchers have been encouraged to contribute their study data, regardless of the funding source.

— Source: National Institutes of Health