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Case study · Data harmonization
Lifebit runs DREAM, the Lupus Research Alliance’s data platform
Lifebit implements and manages DREAM, the Lupus Research Alliance’s data platform within Lupus Nexus, bringing clinical, patient-reported, and molecular data from US and Canadian sites into one governed environment that the Lupus Research Alliance owns. The data never leaves the source.
01 · The challenge
Scattered lupus data, a new registry in two countries
Lupus data was scattered across small, siloed collections, mostly not built for sharing. The new registry would collect clinical data, patient reports, and samples at sites in two countries, through several lab and technology partners.
Bringing clinical, patient-reported, and molecular data from several partners into one model
Recruiting sites in both the US and Canada
Lupus data scattered across small, siloed collections
02 · What we deployed
DREAM, the Data Repository, Exchange and Analytics platform
Lifebit implements and manages DREAM for researchers and clinicians. In one governed workspace, approved researchers analyze longitudinal clinician- and patient-reported data, linked biospecimens, and raw molecular data, and can bring their own tools. Sano Genetics runs the participant community, Embleema the study data entry, and Azenta the biorepository.
Harmonized to OMOP
Clinical data from the registry’s partners is mapped to OMOP and queried as one cohort.
Tools for every skill level
From spreadsheet-style exploration to Jupyter and RStudio, on the same dataset.
Governed access
Researchers apply to the Lupus Research Alliance through the DREAM researcher portal before they get access.
How it works
From connected data to approved results
Clinical, patient-reported, biospecimen, and molecular data from Lupus Nexus partners land in DREAM’s governed researcher workspace.
ETL pipelines map clinical data from the registry’s partners to OMOP, so it can be queried as one cohort.
Researchers build cohorts and analyze with point-and-click tools, Jupyter, or RStudio; administrators control access, permissions, and costs.
Result exports go through Airlock review; people with lupus see their own data in Sano Genetics’ companion portal.
What’s in the stack
Lifebit products used: Trusted Research Environment · Airlock · Trusted Data Factory
03 · The results
One lupus cohort, ready to analyze
Researchers can ask the same question across the full cohort without rebuilding the data each time. DREAM launched in November 2024 as the final part of Lupus Nexus, alongside the Registry, Biorepository, and Quality Management System. In the registry, 37.6% of participants are Black, a group that lupus hits hard and that research has underrepresented. In 2025 the Lupus Research Alliance began the Lupus Nexus Foundational Analyses: whole genome sequencing, RNA sequencing, proteomics, and microbiome profiling of registry samples, with raw and analyzed data flowing into DREAM for approved researchers.
Timeline
About this use case
Data harmonization
Data harmonization turns records collected in different formats, by different labs and partners, into one standard model, so they can be analyzed together. Lupus data is scattered and the disease varies widely between patients, so pooled data is needed to see patterns. The output is one analysis-ready lupus cohort that researchers can query without rebuilding the data each time.
Who uses it here: Lupus researchers and clinicians who apply through the DREAM researcher portal, and the Lupus Research Alliance team who run it.
See how data harmonization works
