The Cancer Data Aggregator (CDA) is a one-stop source for all types of users searching for data across the CRDC Data Commons.

The CDA includes compiled, standardized, and indexed data from the Genomic Data Commons, Imaging Data Commons, Proteomic Data Commons, and Cancer Data Services. It facilitates search using harmonized, common language terms, making it possible to find information about subjects, files, or specimens in a standard dataframe format (TSV) that can be opened in Excel, integrated into a pipeline, or uploaded to a CRDC Cloud Resource.

The CDA developers recognize that users have different interests and skill levels, so have developed the CDA to make it accessible and easy to use, regardless of computational expertise. 

• A point-and-click search tool is designed for users comfortable in Excel or who prefer to search visually.

• Google Colab notebooks provide templates to write tailored queries and run them against the CDA API, with no installation required.This is designed for users who might be learning how to code, but who may want some support. 

• A local install of cdapython offers a more hands-on experience for users comfortable with complex search queries.

• Developer docs provide instruction for more experienced users who want to build novel tools based on CDA’s API.  

No matter how users interact with the CDA, its integration with all three CRDC Cloud Resources ensures that they can easily take search results to the ISB-Cancer Gateway in the Cloud , Broad Institute FireCloud or Seven Bridges Cancer Genomics Cloud, powered by Velsera for data analysis.

For personalized assistance, contact the CDA team’s helpdesk or email them.