Sage Bionetworks is notable for being an early advocate of open science.[4][5] The company operates a software platform for collaborative data analysis called Synapse[6] that allows researchers to work together on data curation and computational modeling asynchronously in a manner inspired by GitHub. Synapse also serves as the software infrastructure for running computational challenges.[7] Sage is also developing a citizen-science platform called Bridge.[8][9]
Research
The bulk of Sage's scientific results emerge from cancer and neurosciences, with notable contributions to the Cancer Genome Atlas Pan-Cancer project.[10] Another Sage initiative, The Resilience Project[11] describes itself as a search for individuals who have genetic changes expected to cause severe illness but who remain perfectly healthy. The hope is to yield insight into factors that protect these individuals from disease.[12][13] In 2019 Sage Bionetworks has joined Open-AD Drug Discovery Center, which aims to find new Alzheimer's drugs. “This project stitches together open science approaches in computational and experimental research,” Sage president Dr. Lara Mangravite said in a statement.[14]
History
Sage Bionetworks was founded in 2009 as a spinout of Merck & Co., who released software, hardware, intellectual property, and staff connected to its Rosetta Inpharmatics unit.[15] A donation from Quintiles provided early funding.[16]
In February 2013, Sage Bionetworks partnered with the Dialogue on Reverse Engineering Assessment and Methods (DREAM) project to provide expertise and infrastructure for DREAM Challenges on the Synapse.org platform.[18]
^Hunter, J.; Stephens, S. (2010). "Is open innovation the way forward for big pharma?". Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 9 (2): 87. doi:10.1038/nrd3099. S2CID1710643.
^Chang, K.; Creighton, C. J.; Davis, C.; Donehower, L.; Drummond, J.; Wheeler, D.; Ally, A.; Balasundaram, M.; Birol, I.; Butterfield, Y. S. N.; Chu, A.; Chuah, E.; Chun, H. J. E.; Dhalla, N.; Guin, R.; Hirst, M.; Hirst, C.; Holt, R. A.; Jones, S. J. M.; Lee, D.; Li, H. I.; Marra, M. A.; Mayo, M.; Moore, R. A.; Mungall, A. J.; Robertson, A. G.; Schein, J. E.; Sipahimalani, P.; Tam, A.; et al. (2013). "The Cancer Genome Atlas Pan-Cancer analysis project". Nature Genetics. 45 (10): 1113–20. doi:10.1038/ng.2764. PMC3919969. PMID24071849.