EBRAINS’ Cobrawap workflow makes data acquired through different methods and by different laboratories compatible with each other.
The brain is a complex system that can only be understood by bringing insights from multiple levels of its organisation and from various experimental approaches. This makes collaboration across various fields of research key; however, integrating the findings from different laboratories can be challenging when the data is not compatible.
Cobrawap is a digital tool developed to overcome this challenge and made openly available via the EBRAINS infrastructure. The Cobrawap workflow serves as a standardized pipeline that can handle data from different experimental setups, such as electrocorticography or calcium imaging.
The input data of EBRAINS users is first translated into the Cobrawap common representation, configuring the initial “data entry” stage. Next, the data can be processed through a tailored sequence of steps forming an analysis pipeline suited to the specific application. In other words, Cobrawap provides a common representation enabling data analysis through a common set of methods and algorithms, thus, allowing quantitative comparisons across different setups.
The pipeline ensures that results are reproducible and can be validated across labs and methodologies. It thus bridges the gap between researchers with different backgrounds, such as neuroscience, data analysis, statistics, or computer science, and enables them to collaborate more effectively.
“When I entered the field, I noticed that many groups were working toward the same goal but using different experimental approaches. Despite their complementary nature, these efforts were often siloed, with each group using its own language and developing its own tools and methods. There was a lack in communication and comparability,” says EBRAINS researcher Giulia De Bonis from the National Institute for Nuclear Physics in Rome, Italy. “That’s why we have developed Cobrawap.”
A key feature of the Cobrawap workflow is its modularity: each processing step can be replaced or customised based on the specific needs of a research team or the requirements of a particular study. This allows the pipeline to be adapted for new use cases, such as validating brain models or comparing simulation outputs. To this end, EBRAINS researchers are currently testing the pipeline with new data types and models to further demonstrate its versatility. Cobrawap has also been designed to be interoperable with other EBRAINS tools such as Elephant or TVB.
Image adapted from Gutzen et al., 2024, Cell Reports Methods 4, 100681. CC BY 4.0.
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