NEW YORK – Rancho Biosciences said Monday that is has created the Single Cell Data Science Consortium, a three-year effort to develop data standards for creating and using single-cell datasets. Joining as charter members are Bristol Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Research & Development, Novartis, and Vesalius Therapeutics.
According to San Diego-based Rancho Biosciences, the growth in availability of single-cell transcriptomics has created a glut of public data that is difficult to analyze because finding, downloading, and curating information relevant to pharma firms is labor-intensive and time-consuming.
The bioinformatics company said it will apply its technology to "deliver an ongoing stream of harmonized single-cell datasets" to its pharma partners. Consortium participants will share costs associated with the work.
The firm, which builds software for data analysis and pipeline building and offers data curation services, said that it welcomes additional members.