How can trainees get authorization to restricted data (eg in dbGaP)
As a PI, I have applied for and received access to restricted data (eg GTEx). Terra made it super easy for me to link my Terra profile to my NIH identifier, which then allowed me to access this data in Terra. Amazing! This was EXTREMELY easy and helpful.
Now, I would like lab trainees to also use Terra to analyze these restricted data. When I applied for dataset access in dbGaP, there is a place to enter collaborators within your institution as follows:
"Use this space to enter information about all additional investigators from your institution who will have access to the dataset(s). (Exclude trainees, who are covered under the NIH policy). By submitting names on this form, requestors and signing officials guarantee that these individuals have read and agreed to the terms, conditions, and statements of the respective Data Use Certification(s)."
So my question to Terra is this: can I (a) somehow set up a Authorization group to share these restricted data (for which I have dbGaP access) with Broad trainees in Terra, or (b) will I have to add each trainee as an "internal collaborator" through dbGaP and then once this is approved have each trainee link their Terra profile to their NIH identifier (which hopefully will have access to the dbGaP project).
Thanks for any guidance,
Sarah Calvo
I just used Terra to access restricted data for which I have applied for approval
Comments
11 comments
Hi Sarah,
I am not positive about the process but I will ask our team and get back to you asap!
Hello Sarah,
Does the workspace that contains your GTEx data have an Authorization Domain already assigned to it? If not, you should be able to create a User Group that contains your trainees, then share the Workspace with that user group via the regular sharing modal.
This way the group can be added to multiple workspaces without you having to manually add each single member. Please note that while you can share with your trainees, you cannot share with other collaborators that do not have their dbgap access process completed.
Thanks so much - I'll try that!
Hi Sarah and Sushma,
Anyone have luck getting GTEx access to trainees on Terra?
Our lab has dbgap approved access to GTEx data. I have tried 1) creating a User Group then assigning the Authorization domain as well as 2) sharing the workspace with the trainee. Neither seem to have worked.
Thanks,
Raquel
Hi Raquel,
Can you confirm that the trainees have linked their NIH account in their Terra profiles, or if they are linked, can you confirm they are active? If the change has been done recently, it does take about a day for the changes to reflect on our end since dbGaP's whitelists are only refreshed on a 24-hour cadence.
Kind regards,
Jason
Jason,
Yes, they have linked their NIH account to their Terra profiles. The accounts are active (activated more than 3 weeks ago). Since trainees are not included on dbgap applications, is the NIH account of the trainee relevant?
Thanks for your help!
Raquel
Hi Raquel,
I believe the trainees would have to show as having access to the data in dbGaP, which would indeed make the NIH account link relevant. Would it be possible to add them as internal collaborators? Or is there a different preferred process to give trainees access on the dbGaP side?
Kind regards,
Jason
Hi Jason,
I contacted the dbGaP help desk. Adding a trainee as a Downloader is sufficient to get access to GTEx data via Terra. Screenshot below shows I should have Terra access. Any idea what's wrong on the Terra side?
Thanks so much for your help,
Raquel
Hi Raquel,
Thank you for the info. When was the trainee added as a Downloader? If it was today, the changes might not show up until tomorrow.
Please also note that the NIH account links expire every 30 days, so if the trainees linked them around that time or longer they need to go to their profiles and relink their accounts.
If they were added as trainees over 24 hours ago and their NIH accounts are showing as not expired, please provide me a list of email addresses for the trainees you believe should be seeing the access and I can double check on the link with one of our engineers.
Many thanks,
Jason
Hi Jason,
I relinked my account, then left the account alone for 1 day for the changes to update and it worked! Thanks for your help,
Raquel
Hi Raquel,
Glad to hear! If we can assist with anything else, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Jason
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