Hiding in plain sight: a research parasite's perspective on new lessons in old data

High-throughput techniques that measure thousands of analytes at once have become ubiquitous features of biological research. The increasing expectation that the raw data generated by these techniques be deposited to public repositories creates rich opportunities for secondary analysis of these datasets. Such opportunities can take multiple forms. As the recipient of the 2023 Junior Research Parasite Award, I was asked to comment on the role of so-called research parasites within the ecosystem of secondary data analysis. Drawing on my own experiences, I discuss mechanisms by which reanalysis of published datasets can catalyze biological discoveries, produce resources that would be impossible to generate within a single laboratory, and drive the refinement of computational methods.