The JERM (Just Enough Results Model) allows us to exchange, interpret and compare between different types of data and results files across SysMO.
The JERM is being developed to model experiments, data and results and the relationships between these and other assets, such as SOPs, protocols and models
The JERM addresses the questions:
- What is the minimum information required to find the data?
- What is the minimum amount of information required to interpret the data?
Different types of data will require different JERMs. The minimum information required to describe a microarray experiment, for example, is not the same as the minimum information required to describe a proteomics experiment using NMR. For some experiment types (predominantly in omics), the research community have been working to define "Just Enough" models for publishing data. SysMO-DB leverages these minimum models wherever possible, enabling easy export and publishing of SysMO data to public repositories.
JERM Templates
Within the SysMO consortium, different projects and different groups of experimental scientists are working towards developing JERM-compliant templates to store and upload data. Many of these templates are in the form of spreadsheets. Spreadsheets are already commonly used by experimentalists to store and analyse data, so making templates available in this format reduces the need for consortium members to alter common practices. Exchanging and sharing within SysMO is then simply a case of making their spreadsheet files available.
Some projects already have database solutions in place for data storage. In these cases, mappings from the JERM to the database schema also provide easy routes to sharing within SysMO.
JERM Extractors
Data files will be kept by host institutions (i.e. the SysMO project consortium systems) and accessed through the SEEK Assets Catalogue. The JERM extractor is the translator between the native formats of data files on external sites (i.e. spreadsheets) and the JERM central schema. This allows the extraction of related data from different places. Any data extraced through the JERM is subject to the same access control settings as any other asset.
