A bill to require the Secretary of Energy to establish a centralized resource for access to data to facilitate biological research through enabling advanced computational methods such as artificial intelligence, and for other purposes.
About This Bill
Committee
Latest Action · June 11, 2026
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
The Web of Biological Data Act of 2026 directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a centralized online platform that serves as a single access point for researchers to find and use biological data, particularly datasets funded by the federal government. The system will support advanced research methods like artificial intelligence by organizing data with quality metrics, ensuring it works across different databases, and implementing security protections appropriate to each data type. The Secretary must award a grant to a National Laboratory within 180 days to build this platform, submit an implementation plan within one year, test an initial version within two years, and have a fully expanded system ready within five years. The bill authorizes $30 million over three years for research and development, $310 million over three years for the initial phase, and $80 million per year for two additional years to operate the system. The legislation also establishes an advisory board with representatives from industry, academia, national laboratories, and federal agencies to oversee the platform's development and ensure it remains user-friendly while protecting sensitive data and preventing access by adversarial nations.
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