Federated EGA

Federated EGA Index

Federated EGA Vision Statement

The Federated EGA is the primary global resource for discovery and access of sensitive human omics and associated data consented for secondary use, through a network of national human data repositories to accelerate disease research and improve human health.

Overview

In the era of rapidly expanding genomics research and technologies, data reuse is more important than ever. This shift prompted the establishment of federated networks for genomic data sharing in Europe. The 1+ Million Genomes (1+MG) Initiative, launched in 2018 to enable access to 1 million sequenced human genomes, provided a cohesive vision to support diverse jurisdictional data sharing requirements. This catalysed the development of multiple projects, including the development and implementation of national-level EGA nodes, coordinated by the Central EGA, and together constituting the Federated EGA Network. Officially launched in 2022, the current status of the FEGA Network is described in the table below.

In a rapidly evolving data sharing landscape, FEGA collaborates with European and global initiatives (GA4GH, ELIXIR, 1+ Million Genomes Framework, GDI), demonstrating that a network for transnational discovery of and access to human data is possible. By providing a solution to emerging challenges around secure and efficient management of human omics and associated data, the FEGA Network fosters data reuse, enables reproducibility, and accelerates biomedical research.

Check out the Federated EGA Onboarding documentation!

Map of FEGA status across the world

Current status of the FEGA Network

Node	Description	Joined
CEGA	Central EGA is managed by the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and EMBL-EBI. The EGA has been a trusted repository for sensitive data since 2008. CEGA coordinates the FEGA network, hosts central services and the EGA catalogue.	2022
Finland	FEGA Finland is hosted by CSC - IT Center for Science Ltd., which is the national ELIXIR Node in Finland. CSC is a state-owned company specialising in providing high-quality IT infrastructure and services for Finnish higher education and research.	2022
Germany	The German Human Genome-Phenome archive (GHGA) is part of the German National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI). It is coordinated by the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and includes over 20 academic partners.	2022
Norway	FEGA Norway is a service by ELIXIR Norway, the Norwegian node of the European organisation ELIXIR. University of Oslo as a partner institution in ELIXIR Norway is hosting the service relying on the TSD infrastructure for sensitive data. ELIXIR Norway is a consortium of 5 Norwegian universities and is coordinated by University of Bergen.	2022
Spain	FEGA Spain is co-hosted by the Barcelona Supercomputer Center (BSC) and the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), both part of ELIXIR Spain and the Spanish National Infrastructure for Personalised Medicine associated with Science and Technology (IMPaCT).	2022
Sweden	FEGA Sweden is hosted by the National Bioinformatics Infrastructure Sweden (NBIS), which legally is part of Uppsala University. NBIS forms the bioinformatics platform at SciLifeLab and constitutes the Swedish node of the European organisation ELIXIR.	2022
Poland	FEGA Poland is hosted by Biobank Lodz, which is part of University of Lodz. Biobank Lodz is an element of the infrastructure of the Regional Digital Medicine Centers established by the Medical Research Agency.	2022
Portugal	FEGA Portugal is managed by BioData.pt, the distributed infrastructure for Life and Health data for Portugal. This entity is a non-profit association of 15 life sciences R&I organisations spread across the country, and the home of ELIXIR Node in Portugal.	2023

Documentation

Title	Version	Description
Structure and Organisation
Federated EGA Structure and Organisation	1.1	The structure of an Federated EGA network and service expectations. We organise the EGA into three types of nodes: Central EGA, Federated EGA nodes and EGA Community nodes; we outline the goals of such an organisation, and summarise the commitments and services provided by the nodes.
Strategic Committee
Federated EGA Strategic Committee	1.1	In the Federated EGA Strategic Committee terms of reference document we describe the purpose and objectives of the committee, which is to provide direction and strategic planning for the federated EGA project. The committee receives input from the EGA Strategic Committee and provides feedback for the EGA strategic roadmap.
Operations Committee
Federated EGA Operations Committee	1.1	The Federated EGA Operations Committee terms of reference describes the purpose and objectives of the operations committee, which is to review operational performance and coordinate technical implementation roadmaps of EGA Federated and Community nodes. The committee receives advice from the EGA Federated Strategic Committee, and provides operational reporting to the EGA Federated Strategic Committee
Guidelines
Node Operations guidelines	2.1	The Federated EGA Node Operations gives an overview of the operational areas which require resources in order to create a federated EGA node. The document is based on more than 15 years' experience of EMBL-EBI and CRG operating the EGA and initial experiences of the inaugural Federated EGA nodes. The operational areas of responsibility are inspired by the Federated EGA Maturity Model which guides establishment and operation of nodes as part of the Federated EGA network of human data resources.
Collaboration
Federated EGA Collaboration Agreement	1.0	Nodes are welcome to make a copy of this current version of the CA to start its review with their legal teams and understand the responsibilities of joining FEGA. Nevertheless, this version (the one with a watermark) shall not be signed: the official version needs to be obtained from FEGA prior signing through its official channels.