Collaborative Research: GEO OSE Track 2: Building an open science community and services for biomarker researchers in the geosciences

Biomarkers are chemicals that are produced by organisms and that provide evidence of how Earth changed in the distant past. The number of biomarker laboratories and the data they generate are increasing rapidly. However, differences across laboratories hinder integrated data analyses. This project will build an open science community that develops shared standards and tools for biomarker research. The project will support collaboration across institutions and career stages. It will provide workforce training for students and early-career researchers and strengthen the resources needed for discoveries about Earth systems. By providing broad access to standardized, integrated data, the project will also support innovation in artificial intelligence. This project will establish community-driven standards for biomarker data and will develop a modular workflow that links sample analysis and data processing to simplify reporting. Standards and services will be developed with existing geoscientific open-access databases including the Neotoma Paleoecology Database and Linked Earth. Biomarker data will be added to these databases. Community workshops, pilot analyses, and visioning activities will advance adoption of these resources and demonstrate their scientific value. These efforts will enable synthesis of biomarker data across geoscience applications. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.