Powering up the ACDC

The Australian Cardiovascular disease Data Commons (ACDC) will pave the way for researchers to make new mechanistic insights and identify potential markers for coronary artery disease (CAD), plus facilitate a translational pipeline to ensure new discoveries are deployed to clinical practice. A new comprehensive, secure, scalable, and internationally integrated data infrastructure will provide access to pooled data from approximately 400,000 individuals across up to 18 clinical cohorts within Australia. 

CAD is the most common type of cardiovascular disease, both in terms of deaths and hospitalisations. Despite developing over several years, CAD is difficult to detect and many patients have no warning symptoms. Developments in data-intensive biomarker research techniques such as genomics, metabolomics, proteomics and immuno-phenotyping, paired with advances in image processing, machine learning, and systems biology pipelines, present opportunities to better understand and identify those at risk through pooled analysis using research infrastructures such as the ACDC.

Work on the ACDC commenced in September, with all stakeholders in the MRFF Critical Research Infrastructure Grant meeting online, including representatives of all 18 clinical cohorts that are planned to be integrated into the ACDC platform. 

It’s a long way to the top, and small working groups will now hold fortnightly ‘sprints’ to keep the ACDC moving forward. You can read more about the ACDC on the BioCommons website.

A formal, in-person, kick off of the ACDC will occur in early December as part of a broader Australian Cardiovascular Alliance Precision Medicine Flagship event hosted by the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute.

The ACDC project is led by the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute and funded by the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) and Bioplatforms Australia (MRFF 2022 National Critical Research Infrastructure Grant: Building an Australian Cardiovascular disease Data Commons). Additional contributions are being made by the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, 23Strands, ACvA, CSL Limited, University of Sydney, Australian BioCommons, data custodians and other partners.