The CIBM Data Science Initiative
Empowering Biomedical Imaging Research with Smarter Data Workflows
The CIBM Data Science Initiative is dedicated to transforming biomedical imaging workflows by streamlining dataset discovery and creation, access to large-scale retrospective clinical imaging data, depersonalization, storage, sharing, and computation. The initiative is a dynamic collaboration between institutional IT services and researchers, enabling a bottom-up approach to identify and implement practical IT solutions that genuinely serve the community. To ensure strong data governance, we work closely with the data governance representatives of our five founding institutions, aligning the initiative with the highest standards of data security and compliance.
The initiative will provide a secure, scalable, and collaborative sharing and storage platform for inter-institutional biomedical imaging research projects, supporting studies from pre-clinical to human research.
Our Mission
- Facilitate seamless access to prospective and retrospective biomedical imaging research data
- Develop efficient and secure data and depersonalisation pipelines
- Provide a collaborative platform for inter-institutional research
- Enable and facilitate machine learning and data-intensive research
- Implement national and international standards
- Enhance collaboration, knowledge sharing, and tool reuse between hospitals, research institutions
Shanoir: open-source biomedical imaging project platform
Following an extensive evaluation of available platforms, Shanoir (SHAring iN vivO Imaging Resources) was selected as the best-fit solution for our research needs, particularly in MRI, EEG, and pre-clinical imaging.
Why Shanoir?
- Designed for clinical and preclinical research
- Supports multiple imaging modalities (MRI, CT, PET, EEG) and formats (DICOM, NIFTI/BIDS, raw Bruker)
- Enables secure data sharing, archiving, and visualization
- Open-source and customizable for institutional needs
- Facilitates inter-institutional collaboration on biomedical imaging projects
- Active, responsive, and publicly-funded development team with long term support
CIBM is joining the Shanoir consortium to participate actively in its governance and define its roadmap. As on January 2025, a Shanoir testing instance is operational on UNIGE servers, the first pilot projects already onboarded, and we are actively participating in reporting bugs, testing, and requesting features.
A Collaborative Data Science Ecosystem
This initiative is built on extensive collaboration among experts across diverse fields, from system administrators and software developers to legal specialists, data managers, computer scientists, and biomedical imaging scientists. It bridges the gap between institutional leadership and technical expertise, ensuring strong institutional support and seamless integration.
By championing open science and data-driven research, the CIBM Data Science Initiative aims to:
- Accelerate biomedical research
- Strengthen interdisciplinary collaborations
- Establish a robust, inter-institutional storage and sharing platform suitable for computational work
- Enhance the global competitiveness of our academic institutions
Learn more about the CIBM Data Science CHUV HUG Section here >>