Marisa L Conte
Assistant Director, Research and Informatics, Taubman Health Sciences Library
University of Michigan
Peter Boisvert
Software Developer, Department of Learning Health Sciences, Medical School
University of Michigan
This project briefing introduces emerging efforts to accelerate research and improve health by sharing computer algorithms on a large scale. These efforts include the work of the Mobilizing Computable Biomedical Knowledge (MCBK) community, and a knowledge infrastructure project to develop both standards for handling computable biomedical knowledge objects, and the methods needed to organize and disseminate them. MCBK is a 2-year-old community of researchers, developers, clinicians, librarians, informaticists and others, all dedicated to enabling the curation, dissemination, and application of computable (machine-executable) biomedical knowledge (CBK) in clinical, research, and public health contexts. Adopted in 2018, the MCBK Manifesto presents the group’s vision: to mobilize CBK using machine-executable formats that can be integrated into health systems and applications, to ensure the trustworthiness of CBK as a reflection of the best and most current evidence and science, and to align CBK development and dissemination with the FAIR principles, such that it is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. The University of Michigan Medical School’s Department of Learning Health Sciences is currently developing an open-source Knowledge Grid (KGrid) platform to facilitate the dissemination and deployment of computable knowledge objects (KOs). The KGrid team has recently expanded to include librarians with expertise in health sciences and digital preservation. This unique partnership leverages librarians’ expertise to standardize and streamline the methods by which knowledge moves into practice by applying the FAIR principles to computable knowledge. Our presentation will conclude with a brief overview of the KGrid platform to date, including a demonstration. We seek CNI community input and support both on the facilitation of CBK validation, and on the deployment of validated KOs into existing platforms to enhance findability and access. Finally, we hope to encourage CNI members to engage more broadly and lend their expertise to MCBK initiatives.
Authors (listed alphabetically): Peter Boisvert, Marisa Conte, Allen Flynn, Lance Stuchell
Mobilizing Computable Biomedical Knowledge (MCBK) community: https://mobilizecbk.med.umich.edu/
MCBK Manifesto: https://medicine.umich.edu/sites/default/files/content/downloads/MCBK%20Manifesto%20Ver%2010.7.18.pdf
Knowledge Grid: https://kgrid.org/