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Sharing Subjects Across Studies

Goal: a new study reuses subjects that an earlier study already defined.

  1. Define each subject once, in the first study that enrolls them, with subjectHumans or subjectAnimals.
  2. Link the existing subject to the new study with the arm_2_subject section of study_design_edit. One row links one subject to one arm.
  3. Keep both studies in the same workspace.
flowchart LR
    subgraph WS [One workspace]
        A[Study A: subjectHumans] -->|defines| SUB((Subject))
        SUB -->|arm_2_subject| B[Study B: study_design_edit]
    end

Don't upload the subject again with subjectHumans or subjectAnimals

Those templates only create new subjects. A Subject ID that already exists in the workspace fails validation, even though some field descriptions mention "referencing an existing subject". Use arm_2_subject to reuse a subject.

Step by step

  1. Make sure the new study is in the same workspace as the subject's original study.
  2. Register the new study and its arms, if you haven't already (Register your study).
  3. In study_design_edit, fill in the arm_2_subject section:
    • Subject ID: the existing subject's accession (for example SUB123456) or its original user-defined ID.
    • Arm Or Cohort ID: the arm or cohort in the new study.
    • Age fields for this study (minimum age, age unit, age event). A subject's age differs between studies, so this section records it per study.
  4. Validate and upload as usual.

Within one study, a subject belongs to a single arm. Across studies, you can link the same subject to an arm in each study, with one arm_2_subject row per link. The only duplicate the validator blocks is the same subject and study pair appearing twice in one package.