Latest version of the portal goes live

Since its launch in 2020, the Swedish Pathogens Portal has supported  infectious disease research in Sweden by making data, resources and knowledge easier to find, access, and use. Through close collaboration with the Swedish research community, the portal has continued to evolve, identifying researchers' needs and developing features to address them.  This approach has helped remove barriers to data-driven research, with a focus on making data as FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) and Open as possible. 

The latest version of the portal has gone live today, and represents the biggest change to the site to date. The changes are directly related to the feedback received from the community, and they include:  

• An updated interface that makes the site easier to navigate and use.
• More streamlined advice related to FAIR data management (e.g. our share data page).
• The ability to dynamically gather and collate data on a greater diversity of pathogens and topics.
• Expanded dashboard capabilities, enabling researchers to explore and present more complex datasets through interactive visualisations.
• The ability for research groups to update dashboard data directly within the site.

Johan Rung, Head of SciLifeLab Data Centre says, ‘We are very excited to release this latest version of the portal. It enables even greater responsiveness to the needs of the infectious disease community, which is essential in pandemic preparedness. It also enables Swedish research data to be more FAIR, in line with the central aims of SciLifeLab.’.

Multiple research groups are already taking advantage of these new features, and adding their work to the site. For example, the new version of the site includes significant advancements to the dashboard displaying their data on the levels of multiple viruses in wastewater from different regions from Sweden that features data from Anna Székely’s group at the Swedish University of Agricultural Science (SLU). Multiple new dashboards from other groups are also under development, as are many other features requested by the user community. 

The work of the Swedish Pathogens Portal would not be possible without the input and support of users (e.g. the research community, those in the health industry, governmental organisations, and the general public), as well as funders, both past and present. We extend our sincere gratitude to SciLifeLab for its support of the portal, which serves as a key resource for two of SciLifeLab’s programs: Pandemic Laboratory Preparedness (PLP) and Data-Driven Life Science (DDLS). We also thank the portal’s editorial committee for its valuable contributions.