Sparc: a sustainable data repository for datasets and tools bridging the body and the brain

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke awarded the University of Pennsylvania a $798,218 cooperative agreement on April 15, 2026, to operate the SPARC Portal, an open-science data repository and community hub for datasets and tools bridging body-brain research, principally supporting neuromodulation, interoception, and gut-brain interactions.

The SPARC Portal combines repository services with a web application that integrates and provides access to multi-modal datasets including high-resolution imaging, time series data, -omics, computational models, anatomical maps, and device designs. The repository currently hosts over 300 high-impact datasets contributed by over 600 investigators and supports over 5,000 users. The SPARC Data Resource Center, managed by the recipient, develops standards and best practices for data submission and maintains curation workflows. The portal has transitioned from supporting exclusively the NIH SPARC program (focused on the autonomic nervous system) to an open repository with expanded scope supporting the NIH data-sharing policy and complementing US Brain Initiative archives. It also supports related NIH programs including HEAL Rejoin, HEAL Precision, and the EU VITAL project.

Performance occurs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with a period of performance through February 28, 2031. The award falls under CFDA 93.286, Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health.

The University of California, San Diego serves as a sub-grantee, developing assisted curation of large-scale multi-modal datasets to common standards and maintaining integrated data repository functionality with large-scale analytic workflow management capabilities.

Abstract

The sparc portal provides a community hub for rapidly developing and highly integrative fields such as neuromodulation, interoception, and GUT-brain interactions. IT combines repository services with a web application that fosters community and data integration. The sparc infrastructure was initially funded through a significant 8-year investment by the NIH office of the director to serve as the data integration, analysis, mapping, and publishing platform for the NIH stimulating peripheral activity to relieve conditions (sparc) program, focused mainly on the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The sparc portal transitioned to an open repository in 2023 with an expanded scope beyond the ANS to support the new NIH data-sharing policy. With its unique focus on the PNS and systems physiology, the sparc portal provides a critical neuroscience-focused resource that complements the investments by the US brain initiative in data-modality-specific data archives established by the brain initiative. Our central hypothesis is that developing and maintaining a fair, open- science data repository ecosystem to support science bridging the body and brain will significantly advance scientific understanding, serve life science applications, and substantially impact clinical medicine. Currently, the repository hosts over 300 high-impact, large-scale datasets contributed by over 600 investigators. IT supports integrated multi-modal datasets of high-resolution imaging, time series, -omics, computational models, anatomical maps, and other data modalities. IT provides seamless access, search, and interaction with these datasets through a dedicated web application. The sparc data resource center manages the resource. IT has been actively involved in developing standards, best practices, and outreach to establish a larger community around the data submitted to the repository. Over 5000 investigators subscribe to the quarterly sparc newsletter for updates on relevant events, new datasets, and community insight articles. In this proposal, our goals are (1) to continue to provide sustainable data and tool publishing services to the larger scientific community, focusing on datasets bridging the body and brain. (2) to maintain and sustain the infrastructure and governance of the resource, ensuring that the platform remains viable long-term and has transparent governance processes, and (3) continue to foster and expand the sparc community as we firmly believe that the success of a repository extends beyond the data that is made public through the repository and instead requires fostering a community around the resource and the data. The proposed project facilitates the continuation and expansion of the sparc portal as a sustainable, interoperable data repository for the scientific community.