# What is Metadata?

Metadata means data about data. Metadata enables both data searchability and interpretability. For HTAN, this includes sample and case identifiers, patient information (e.g. demographics), biospecimen information (e.g. tumor type), and assay-specific information (e.g. experiment protocol, assay reagents or assay technology).

HTAN's Data Model is a framework for collecting and storing metadata. The Data Model in turn supports effective searching for data on HTAN's Data Portal.

Metadata is submitted to HTAN via Synapse which is developed and maintained by Sage Bionetworks.

Terminology Alert

In the Synapse system, metadata can be File-based (associated with a data file) or Record-based. Please see Synapse's Documentation for more information about these terms.

For HTAN:
Record-based metadata includes the Clinical and Biospecimen modules of the HTAN2 Data Model.
File-based metadata includes all other modules in the HTAN2 Data Model.