Project Grant R43ES036069

BIOBRICKS-ENV: AI DRIVEN, OPEN-SOURCE, MODULAR, COMPOSABLE PLATFORM TO ORGANIZE, STORE, RETRIEVE, EXTRACT, AND INTEGRATE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH & RISK RELATED DATA - THE OVERALL GLOBAL MARKET FOR TOXICOLOGY TESTING WAS $8.1 BILLION IN 2019 AND IS EXPECTED TO REACH $27 BILLION BY 2025. RISK ASSESSMENT, WHICH HISTORICALLY HAS RELIED ON TOXICOLOGY TESTING, IS AN INTEGRAL PROCESS OF NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND ONGOING PRODUCT SAFETY STEWARDSHIP. WHEN ANSWERING BIOINFORMATICS QUESTIONS, RESEARCHERS OFTEN STRUGGLE TO DISCOVER APPROPRIATE SOURCES FROM HUNDREDS OF PUBLIC RESOURCES, ESPECIALLY WHEN EACH RESOURCE PROVIDES ITS OWN CUSTOM DISTRIBUTION METHOD. TO MINIMIZE TIME TO MARKET AND EXPENSE, ADVANCES IN COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY AND MACHINE LEARNING (ML) ARE HELPING TO AUTOMATE AND REDUCE THE EXPENSE OF CHEMICAL TESTING VIA NEW APPROACH METHODOLOGIES. SCIENTISTS ARE LEVERAGING PUBLIC KNOWLEDGEBASES, WHICH CATALOG CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, AND TOXICITY DATA, TO INCREASE THE SCOPE & PERFORMANCE OF ADVANCED COMPUTATIONAL TOOLS. THERE IS CURRENTLY A STRONG VALUE PROPOSITION IN THE $511B COSMETIC INDUSTRY, $218B AGROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY, $221B HOME CLEANING SUPPLIES INDUSTRY, AND $2T CONSUMER GOODS MARKETS FOR TOOLS THAT ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY & EXPEDITE PRODUCT DESIGN STRATEGIES BY ALLOWING RESEARCHERS TO RAPIDLY LEVERAGE ALL AVAILABLE INFORMATION. BIOBRICKS-ENV WILL SOLVE THIS GROWING MARKET CHALLENGE BY PROVIDING A STANDARD PROTOCOL SUPPORTED BY "BRICKS" AND AN OPEN-SOURCE TOOL SET. BRICKS ARE STAND-ALONE DIGITAL RESOURCES THAT CAN BE EASILY LOADED INTO ANY DATA- SCIENCE ENVIRONMENT. BIOBRICKS-ENV WILL LEVERAGE GIT & DATA-VERSION-CONTROL TO CREATE "DATA-DEPENDENCIES", DATA RESOURCES THAT CAN BE IMPORTED INTO A DATA SCIENCE ENVIRONMENT USING METHODS SIMILAR TO PACKAGE MANAGEMENT TOOLS LIKE HOMEBREW. HOWEVER, BIOBRICKS-ENV WILL RELIEVE DEVELOPERS OF THE SIGNIFICANT EFFORT AND BURDEN OF MAINTAINING DATA PIPELINES, AND IF ADOPTED, RELIEVES DATA DEVELOPERS OF THE COST OF MAINTAINING A DISTRIBUTION METHOD. BIOBRICKS THEREBY PROVIDES A SERVICE TO DATA SCIENTISTS, WHO CAN REDUCE THE COST OF PROJECT DEVELOPMENT, AND DATA DISTRIBUTORS, WHO MAY STRUGGLE TO FIND ADOPTION DUE TO THE LACK OF AN EASY DISTRIBUTION METHOD. THIS SERVICE FILLS A STRONGLY NEEDED NICHE IN THE PUBLIC HEALTH DATA MARKETPLACE. REVENUE WILL BE DRIVEN THROUGH TWO SOURCES INCLUDING 1) SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE MODELS TO TOXICOLOGY RESEARCHERS AND LABORATORIES AND 2) STRATEGIC PARTNERS WHO MONETIZE THEIR PROPRIETARY DATA ON THE BIOBRICKS-ENV PLATFORM. WHILE THE FULLY COMMERCIALIZED BIOBRICKS-ENV WILL INTEGRATE ALL FEATURES ABOVE, PHASE I WILL TARGET FEASIBILITY FOR STANDARDIZABLE BRICK ARCHITECTURE, SIMPLICITY OF DEPLOYMENT AND USE, INTEROPERABILITY OF OUTPUTS, AI FOR DATA SOURCING, AND PROTOTYPE INTERFACE. DEVELOPMENT WILL FOCUS ON PUBLIC DATABASES OF HIGH RELEVANCE TO ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND RISK DATA. THE PHASE I BIOBRICKS-ENV PROTOTYPE WILL PROVIDE A DATA-DEPENDENCY PACKAGE MANAGER THAT CAN RUN ON WINDOWS, MAC, AND LINUX AND SUPPORT COMMON "INSTALL", "UPDATE", AND "LOAD" CONCEPTS. AI TOOLS TO SUPPORT DATA INTEGRATION AND MAPPING WILL BE EXPANDED TO SUPPORT ENVIRONMENTAL DATA. ONCE THE PROTOTYPE HAS BEEN DEVELOPED AND TESTED IN HOUSE, IT WILL BE EVALUATED IN A USABILITY AND COST- PERFORMANCE VALIDATION STUDY WITH A COMMERCIAL BETA TESTING PARTNER.