SPARC Plug Summer 2025
Originally published 2025/08/21
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SPARC News
Autonomic Neuroscience: Basic and Clinical endorses open data sharing through the SPARC Portal
We’re excited to share a new milestone in SPARC’s mission to advance open, data-driven science. Autonomic Neuroscience: Basic and Clinical (AN:BC), the official journal of the International Society for Autonomic Neuroscience, has formally endorsed the SPARC Portal as its preferred data repository.
Key benefits of this partnership include
- Improved data discoverability and reuse
- Stronger compliance with FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data standards
- Increased visibility for researchers
- Free and open access to published data
Read our announcement and read the official, editorial announcement in the August issue of AN:BC.
SPARC data and models to be accessible free of transfer cost through AWS Open Data Sponsorship Program
The SPARC DRC announced acceptance into the AWS Open Data Sponsorship Program in May 2025. This collaboration provides open access to the growing collection of curated research studies, models and simulations available on the SPARC Portal, supporting SPARC DRC’s commitment to the FAIR data principles.
View the SPARC page on the Registry of Open Data on AWS.
We are currently in the progress of integrating the SPARC Portal with the AWS Open Data Sponsorship Program to allow access to all public SPARC data and models completely free of storage and transfer costs.
Announcing the 2025 SPARC FAIR Codeathon winners!
The SPARC Data and Resource Center is thrilled to share the winners of the 5th Annual SPARC FAIR Codeathon, held virtually August 2–4, 2025! Over three exciting days, developers and researchers from around the world collaborated to design innovative tools powered by SPARC data and resources.
Grand Prize — US $8,000 SPARC Plugins – A framework for dynamically integrating rich, interactive web apps into the SPARC Portal in accordance with FAIR principles. Team Members include Chinchien Lin, Kekayan Nanthakumar, Xinyue Zhong, Linkun Gao, Thiranja Prasad Babarenda Gamage.
Second Prize — US $4,000 SPARC FUSE – A file unification and standardization engine for SPARC datasets. Team Members include Max Haberbusch, David Lung, Sebastian Hochreiter, Phillip Heute, Laurenz Berger.
Third Prize — US $2,000 SPARCats – An o²S²PARC tool to accelerate data discovery by AI and bring breakthroughs from the lab into healthcare. Team Members include Omkar Athavale, Michael Hoffman, Mathias Roesler, Mishaim Malik.
All pipelines, scripts, software, and programs developed during the Codeathon will be made openly available through a dedicated public GitHub organization, accessible via the SPARC Portal. Teams are also encouraged to publish manuscripts describing their tools, with support from the NIH SPARC Common Fund Program and the SPARC Data and Resource Center.
Curious to see what our Codeathon teams created? Explore all the projects on the SPARC Portal, and watch the winning presentations.
Inaugural SPARC Research Seminar Series a great success
As the 2025 SPARC Research Seminar series winds down, we want to thank the researchers who shared the stories that highlight the data and models they’ve contributed to the SPARC Portal.
We introduced the seminar series in February 2025. Ten seminars followed on a twice monthly schedule. Seminars cover a range of subjects, including genomics, comparative physiology of cardiac ganglia, intra- and inter-subject variability of human vagus nerve anatomy, devices and in silico modeling. Presentations are made as Zoom virtual webinars, and are later available on the SPARC YouTube Channel for those unable to attend in real time. The webinars were well attended. The YouTube videos have been watched hundreds of times.
Dr. Asta Arendt-Tranholm kicked off the series in April. Dr. Hans Gregerson, Dr. David Nickerson, Dr. Naveen Jayaprakash, Dr. John Tompkins, Drs. Esra Neufeld, Antonio Mario Cassara & Javier Garcia Ordonez; Dr. Vaughan Macefield, and Drs. Maryann Martone & Susan Tappan followed between May and August. Dr. Brendan Lee and Dr. John Osborn will complete the series on September 3 and 17, respectively.
A huge thank you to all of our presenters, who have fostered open science and scientific exchange by presenting key topics in biomedical research through this series.
Register to catch the last few webinars in the 2025 series!
One more kudo…the promo videos that the speakers shared on social media were awesome! Follow SPARC.science on LinkedIn, YouTube and Bluesky to see them all.
Recruiting speakers for the 2026 SPARC Seminar Series
We’re actively seeking researchers for the 2026 Seminar Series, which will commence in Spring 2026. Present your research to an international community of experts interested in peripheral nervous system function, bioelectronic medicine, organ physiology, and translational science. Your talk will be promoted across SPARC’s channels, including SPARC.science, SPARC Plug newsletters, and LinkedIn, YouTube and Bluesky. It will also be shared on our YouTube channel for continued discovery. Seminar recordings remain publicly available long after the live session, and continue to receive views, extending the opportunity for ongoing engagement with your work. Please reach out to us at [email protected] for more information.
Help us with a quick SPARC Survey
Please participate in this quick SPARC survey! It takes about 7 minutes. Your honest feedback will help shape the future SPARC program. Participation is voluntary and anonymous—no personally identifiable information is collected or stored. Whether you’re new to SPARC or have been around since the start, your opinion matters. Thank you for your time and input.
SPARC Portal Updates
Monthly downloads email has been retired
We hope you’re exploring the Metrics tab on the Dataset Details page that we announced last quarter. It will give you a sense of how your dataset is being accessed by the community. As a contributor, you are now able to use your ORCID to access this single source to view all metrics across all of your datasets.
With this change in metrics reporting, the monthly dataset metrics email has been retired. You can now access metrics in real time by visiting the dataset details page for individual datasets or reviewing a consolidated view within your SPARC profile. If you have any questions, please email [email protected].
Whether you are an individual researcher, manage a program, or a project funder interested in the peripheral nervous system, consider sharing your research on the SPARC Portal
News from RE-JOIN
The Restoring Joint Health and Function to Reduce Pain (RE-JOIN) Consortium consists of research teams working together to map the network of sensory nerves that connect to two joints: the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and the knee. This research aims to understand how these types and patterns of sensory neuron networks in joints change with disease and aging.
Register to join us for the upcoming SPARC Seminar Series featuring Dr. Brendan Lee, MD, PhD, of RE-JOIN, “Gene Therapy for Osteoarthritis” on September 3, 2025. Following this presentation, you will be able to access the recording on the SPARC YouTube Channel.
RE-JOIN investigators have been working hard these last few months. The team published a consortium-driven manuscript as part of Experimental Neurology’s special topic on big data in neuroscience that directly addresses the considerable task of successfully harmonizing and integrating datasets generated by diverse technologies and research groups within team science projects.
Curious to see what methods the group has put together? As part of their data harmonization strategy, RE-JOIN’ers also made many of their research methods publicly available. Thirteen protocols from RE-JOIN teams can now be found on protocols.io, with many more on the way.
In pursuit of the consortium’s main goal – revealing the biological underpinnings of chronic joint pain - RE-JOIN members have also published several team-driven preprints over the last few months. While some papers cover methodological updates to study joint innervation, others provide a closer look at the sensory neuronal circuits or joint-associated tissues in clinical and preclinical models of joint disease. An overview of all papers carrying the RE-JOIN consortium banner can be found on the SPARC Portal.
News from PRECISION
The NIH HEAL Initiative® seeks scientific solutions to accelerate the development of prevention strategies and safe, non-addictive, innovative treatments for opioid misuse, addiction, and pain. Browse some of their latest work below.
University of Pennsylvania
Recent Presentations
- Single-Soma RNA-seq DRG and TG neurons Session, Montreal Conference on Pain Circuits.
- “How Somatosensory Information is Coded and Conveyed", 2025 Neurotrophic Mechanisms in Health and Disease Conference GRC.
Recent Publications
Washington University in Saint Louis
Recent Publications
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston
Recent Presentations (not recorded)
- Leveraging Single-soma Deep RNA Sequencing of Human Dorsal Root Ganglion (DRG) and Trigeminal Ganglion (TG) Neurons to Explore the Mechanisms of Somatosensation. Oral presentation, Burke Neurological Institute, Weill Cornell Medicine, White Plain, NY, April 2025
- Single-soma Deep RNA Sequencing of Human Dorsal Root Ganglion (DRG) and Trigeminal Ganglion (TG) Neurons. Oral presentation, GRC neurotrophic mechanisms in health and disease, Newport, RI, June 2025; Oral presentation, IRCM organized Montreal Pain Circuit Meeting, Montreal, Canada, July 2025
Recent Publications
- Human pain neuroscience and the next generation of pain therapeutics. Copits BA, Curatolo M, Dougherty PM, Gereau RW 4th, Luo W, Martone M, Olausson H, Price TJ, Renthal W, Woolf CJ, Zhao G; NIH PRECISION Human Pain Network. Neuron. 2025 May 7;113(9):1304-1306. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2025.04.005. PMID: 40339567; PMCID: PMC12279253.
- Neuroma-to-Nerve Ratio: Does Size Matter? Weigel DT, Raasveld FV, Liu WC, Mayrhofer-Schmid M, Hwang CD, Tereshenko V, Renthal W, Woolf CJ, Valerio IL, Eberlin KR. Neurosurgery. 2025 Mar 1;96(3):545-554. doi: 10.1227/neu.0000000000003166. Epub 2024 Sep 9. PMID: 39248535.
Share news from your team
The SPARC Portal and the quarterly newsletter, SPARC Plug, are available for you to share news amongst yourselves, as well as broadcast your stories to the wider SPARC community.
Have you recently attended an event or presented at a conference? Published a manuscript? Is there an event, conference or publication coming up that you’d like to promote?
You can share news or an event, tell a story, and share a tool or resource through the Portal and newsletter. Give us the basic facts through our News and Events intake form. A member of our team will reach out to you for any additional information or clarification needed.
We look forward to telling your stories and sharing your successes!
Look for SPARC at these events
Neuromod Prize winners announced at HLTH
SPARC will be in attendance at HTLH, October 19-22, 2025, at The Venetian Expo Center in Las Vegas to announce the Phase 3 winners of the Neuromod Prize! The Neuromod Prize is a SPARC initiative from the National Institutes of Health Common Fund that seeks groundbreaking uses of peripheral nerve stimulation that can independently regulate two or more desired autonomic functions without unintended effects on non-target organs.
See us at Neuroscience 2025
We’re excited to share that SPARC will be at Neuroscience 2025, November 15-19, 2025, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego. Visit us at Booth 3924!
Funding Opportunities
Applying for a grant? Write us in!
Are you preparing a grant submission and would like to specify SPARC as your data repository? The SPARC Portal offers many services, including data management and sharing, curation services, simulation platform, knowledge engineering and mapping, and consortia support. If you’re interested in hosting your datasets or models on the SPARC Portal, reach out to us and get the conversation started early. We look forward to partnering with you.
Notices:
Agency/Organization: National Institutes of Health
Purpose: This Notice informs the extramural community that, beginning in fiscal year 2026, NIH will no longer post NOFOs in the NIH Guide. Grants.gov will serve as NIH's single official source for grant and cooperative agreement funding opportunities.
Requests for Information:
Agency/Organization: NIAMS Scientific/ Research Contact: Kamil Barbour, PhD, MPH, MS, CAPT, USPHS (NOT-AR-25-016) National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
Action item: Please make sure to submit any relevant information about future needs for epidemiological studies at NIAMS through this RFI. Deadline: Nov 7, 2025
Funding Opportunities:
Mission Office-specific Innovative Solutions Openings (ISOs) Agency/Organization: ARPA-H Expiration: Varied Link: https://arpa-h.gov/research-and-funding/mission-office-iso
Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Promoting Data Reuse for Health Research [NOT-OD-24-096] Agency/Organization: National Institutes of Health (NIH) Expiration: New date: Sep 9, 2026 (Prior Date Nov 04, 2026) Link: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-24-096.html
Forecasted Opportunities:
Precision Medicine with AI: Integrating Imaging with Multimodal Data (PRIMED-AI)
Agency/Organization: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Expiration: TBA
Links:
- https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/359269
- https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/359270
- https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/359271
- https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/359666
- https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/359268
Small Business Translator: MedTech and Digital Health Technologies
Agency/Organization: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Expiration: October 20, 2025
Link:
Genome Sequencing Center for the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program
Agency/Organization: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Expiration: October 30, 2025
Link:
Call for Papers
Touchy, feely: The hidden languages of our skin
Submission deadline: October 3, 2025
The Journal of Physiology is inviting submissions for a special issue on touch and pain processing, specialized sensory endings, and how somatosensory disorders impact neurodevelopment.
Upcoming Events
August 27, 2025, 12:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Faculty, students, and researchers are invited to explore how the Common Fund Data Ecosystem (CFDE) can support research, education, and discovery in omics-related research. Explore emerging tools and resources, hear directly from CFDE experts, and discover innovative projects demonstrating how CFDE data can drive discovery across disciplines, including work from participants in this summer’s CFDE mentorship program. The CFDE includes a wide range of diverse and valuable datasets for omics-related research including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and beyond.
October 19-22, Las Vegas, NV
The 8th Ultimate Autonomic Challenge at American Autonomic Society 2025 (AAS)
November 5-8, Clearwater Beach FL
The 8th Ultimate Autonomic Challenge will occur during the 36th International Symposium on the Autonomic Nervous System, organized by the American Autonomic Society, on November 5, 2025, from 11:30 am to 12:00 pm.
November 11-15, San Diego, CA
The Neural Engineering Community invites researchers, clinicians, and industry professionals to this premier conference. NER is the global hub for sharing research and breakthroughs in neurotechnologies enhancing sensory, motor, and cognitive functions.
November 15-19, San Diego, CA
Share your newest research and gain valuable feedback on your work by presenting a late-breaking poster (in person, virtually, or both) at Neuroscience 2025. Late-breaking abstract submission will be open Wednesday, September 3 through Wednesday, September 10, or until 2,500 submissions are received. Review the rules for submission.
January 22-25, Las Vegas, NV
Let us know if you’re presenting research at NANS 2026!
New SPARC Tutorials
Visit SPARC's Webinar YouTube channel for all our webinars.
SPARC Annual Report 2025 Available
Meta-Modeling with ‘Model Intelligence’ HyperTools on o²S²PARC
Explore complex models faster and more efficiently with our latest tutorial on Meta-Modeling! Meta-Modeling helps uncover how input parameters influence model predictions – especially valuable for exploring complex, high-dimensional, and computationally expensive models. This new tutorial shows how to use intelligent Design-of-Experiments and Surrogate Modeling (SuMo) techniques to reduce the need for thousands of simulations. With the new ‘Model Intelligence’ HyperTools on the o²S²PARC platform, you will learn how to gain deeper insights into model behavior, optimize designs, quantify uncertainties, and make interactive, data-driven decisions. Especially in bioelectronic applications, where biological variability and design choices interact, meta-modeling turns raw data into actionable knowledge.
This tutorial relates to the webinar In silico Safety Assessment of neural interfaces, which was presented on July 30, 2025.
Reusing a subject-specific vagus scaffold with mapped data in simulation/analysis
Jupyter notebook demonstrating how to use the published subject specific vagus (SSV) dataset (https://sparc.science/datasets/426) with the Zinc python module to analyse SSV to extract branch information is available here: https://github.com/ABI-Tutorials/SPARC-SSV. It is uploaded to https://docs.sparc.science/docs/documentation-examples-and-software-for-map-reuse#/
Overview of the Reconstructing Vagal Anatomy (REVA) Initiative
The SPARC Reconstructing Vagal Anatomy (REVA) initiative is creating more precise and detailed maps of the human vagus nerve, a bioelectronic highway that carries two-way electrical signals between the brain and internal organs of the body. This summary video describes the REVA initiative and how it is working towards advancing science and improving patients' lives.
Browse all of the SPARC tutorials.
SPARC Webinars
View the SPARC Seminar Series (2025) on YouTube.
Visit the SPARC.science YouTube channel to explore more of our content.
Talk to the SPARC DRC team
Join one of our weekly office hours to ask questions and learn more from the SPARC Data Resource Center Team. Find out more about our office hours on the SPARC Help Center.
Share with SPARC
Whether you are an individual researcher, manage a program or a project funder interested in the peripheral nervous system, consider sharing your data on SPARC. Find out more about sharing on the SPARC Portal.
Our quarterly newsletter, SPARC PLUG
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SPARC Annual Report 2025 Available
The annual public report, describing highlights and plans for the SPARC platform, is available to download. The report covers the SPARC research community, new Portal functionality, the open development framework, and steps towards sustainability.
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