Support services at the Data Integration Center (DIC)

Your bridge between medical research and clinical care

The Data Integration Center (DIC) serves as the primary contact for providing health data in a structured, secure, and data protection-compliant manner for scientific inquiries.  

Our goal is to strengthen your research infrastructure – strategically by providing high-quality data, expert guidance, innovative technologies, and following highest quality standards.

1. Data for your research: retrieval and easy access

We offer extensive assistance for your research, request patient data, and utilize it efficiently in your research projects.

Our services:

• Structured data extracts from clinical systems: Structured data sets from various sources such as the hospital information system (HIS), laboratory information system (LIS), and picture archiving system (PACS).
• Compliant data use: Guidance on data use, taking into account all relevant legal frameworks, such as ethics votes, data protection regulations, and coordination with relevant bodies.
• Central coordination: Our transfer office serves as your primary contact for all inquiries regarding data and biomaterials.

2. Successful research data management: support throughout the entire project cycle

Our Data Competence Center supports you throughout the entire life cycle of your research project.

During the project:

• Preparation and standardization: Harmonization of study data from different sources for a consistent database.
• FAIR principles: Guidance on implementing FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) so that your research data is findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable.
• Data protection-compliant storage: Guidance, and solutions for secure storage and filing of your research data in compliance with data protection guidelines.
• Data Visualization: Assistance in clearly and effectively presentation your data through professional visualizations.

After project completion:

• Archiving: Guidance and support in archiving your data to ensure reproducibility.
• Repository selection and (meta-)data upload: Assistance in selecting suitable repositories and uploading your data and metadata.
• Sustainable Data Sharing: Recommendations for the sustainable sharing and reuse of your research results for future scientific inquiries.

3. High data quality and seamless interoperability

We guarantee data quality and optimal analyzability through:

• Established Data Standards: Use of international standards such as HL7 FHIR, LOINC, and SNOMED CT for seamless data exchange between different systems.
• Semantic interfaces: Uniform interpretation of different terms for the same concept in different data sets.
• Quality assurance: Regular plausibility checks and manual reviews during data integration.
• Continuous validations: Use of current validation routines to ensure data integrity and consistency.

4. Individual consulting and practice-oriented training

Our interdisciplinary team of data scientists, (medical) computer scientists, and doctors offers you

• Consultations on data-driven research projects: Development of suitable database schemas for your analyses.
• Expertise in data protection law: Communication of relevant data protection law principles and, assistance with approval procedures.
• Training on data processing tools: Introduction to R, Python.
• FAIR principles and data publication: Practice-oriented instructions on implementing  FAIR principles and publishing research data

We offer our training courses both as regular open workshops and as individual, project-accompanying formats.

5. Quality management and data protection: our top priorities

• We offer high-quality services, and guarantee the protection of your personal data at all times. Our comprehensive quality management and the highest data protection standards are firmly anchored in our processes.
• Quality management system: Based on DIN EN ISO 9001 for transparent and traceable processes.
• Data protection: Strict access controls, modern technical protection measures, and close coordination with the data protection officers.

6. Sustainability at DIC

Sustainability is a central principle in our work -   in the handling of research data and the design of our processes and infrastructure.

Our comprehensive sustainability concept includes the following aspects:

• Long-term data availability: Structured archiving and use of repositories to ensure permanent availability of data.
• Reuse of scientific data: Guidance on data sharing and publication of metadata.
• Technological sustainability: Open interfaces, scalable software architectures, and standardized data formats ensure long-term usability.
• Personnel continuity: Knowledge retention, comprehensive documentation, and continuous training within our team.

All our services are modular and can be used according to your individual needs. Through the above-mentioned principles, we strive to promote the efficiency of current research and ensure its sustainable impact for future scientific inquiries.

We look forward to supporting your research project with our expertise!