Mission and Values

Our Mission:

The objective of the iReceptor Plus project is to improve personalized medicine and immunotherapy for diseases with an immune component, including cancer, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, allergy and infectious diseases, by integrating distributed repositories of Adaptive Immune Receptor Repertoire sequencing (AIRR-seq) data. The iReceptor Plus Platform will be community-driven and implements the vision of a Data Commons as developed by the AIRR Community. Adhering to the AIRR Community protocols and metadata standards makes the iReceptor Plus Platform interoperable with other efforts in this area.

The iReceptor Plus project will build on the present iReceptor (www.ireceptor.org), a platform for the federated exploration and analysis of distributed repositories of AIRR-seq data and associated metadata that adhere to the AIRR-Community standards and protocols for generating, analyzing, depositing, exploring, and sharing such data.

By enabling searches for and aggregation of AIRR-seq data across vast, geographically distributed repositories, and providing sophisticated analyses of these combined data, iReceptor Plus will greatly enhance the value of these data for biomedical research and patient care.

We value:

  • Governance by consensus where possible;
  • A culture of respect, communication and collaboration;
  • Free and Open Source Software (FOSS): iReceptor Plus components will be developed and distributed under OSI-approved licenses unless proprietary licensing of individual components is required to protect legitimate interests for commercialization;
  • Interoperability: iReceptor Plus will aim to use AIRR Community-endorsed standards when possible and will work with the AIRR Community and other interested parties outside of the iReceptor Plus Consortium when creating new, or extending existing, standards;
  • The H2020 Open Access policy and the recommendations of the Open Research Data pilot: these will be considered across the platform and within its security framework;
  • Involvement of the iReceptor Plus Consortium members with the AIRR Community;
  • Privacy and informed consent of individuals who contribute biological samples, and clinical and personal data to this project;
  • Development of sustainable businesses from the iReceptor Plus project and associated infrastructure.