CuraLink - AI-Powered Clinical Research Platform

CuraLink is an AI-powered clinical research platform that helps patients discover clinical trials, publications, and experts while enabling researchers to collaborate, manage studies, and connect with participants.

🌐 Try now at curalink-research.vercel.app

Key Features

For Patients

Natural Language Search - Describe your condition in plain language
Clinical Trial Recommendations - Personalized matches from ClinicalTrials.gov
Expert Discovery - Search and connect with health researchers
Publication Browser - Explore relevant medical research
Community Forums - Post questions and get answers from researchers
Favorites - Save trials, publications, and experts
Meeting Requests - Schedule consultations with researchers

For Researchers

ORCID Integration - Link and verify your research identity
Trial Management - Create and manage your clinical trials
Researcher Collaboration - Connect with peers across institutions
Forum Responses - Engage with patient questions
Publication Discovery - Browse and save relevant papers
Meeting Management - Accept or decline patient consultation requests

Platform

AI-Powered Summaries - Gemini Pro translates research into patient-friendly language
Smart Keyword Extraction - Auto-extract disease terms from natural language input
Role-Based Access - Separate, tailored experiences for patients and researchers

Project Structure

The project is organized using the Next.js App Router:

curalink/
├── app/                        # Next.js App Router pages
│   ├── (auth)/                 # Authentication routes
│   ├── (patient)/              # Patient-facing pages
│   ├── (researcher)/           # Researcher dashboard pages
│   └── api/                    # API route handlers
├── components/                 # Reusable UI components
├── lib/                        # Database connection and utilities
├── models/                     # Mongoose schemas and models
├── hooks/                      # Custom React hooks
├── context/                    # React context providers
├── utils/                      # Helper functions and external API integrations
│                               # (ClinicalTrials.gov, PubMed, ORCID, Google Scholar)
├── .env.local.example          # Environment variables template
├── package.json                # Dependencies and scripts
└── README.md                   # Project documentation

How To Use

To clone and run this application, you'll need Git, Node.js, and MongoDB (or Docker) installed on your computer.

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/your-username/curalink
cd curalink

Install dependencies
```
npm install
```
Configure environment variables
```
cp .env.local.example .env.local
```
Required variables:
- MONGODB_URI - MongoDB connection string
- NEXTAUTH_SECRET - NextAuth.js secret
- GEMINI_API_KEY - Google Gemini API key
- PUBMED_API_KEY (optional) - PubMed credentials
- ORCID_CLIENT_ID / ORCID_CLIENT_SECRET (optional) - ORCID OAuth

Start MongoDB (if running locally)

# Using Docker
docker run -d -p 27017:27017 --name mongodb mongo:latest

Run the development server
```
npm run dev
```
Then open http://localhost:3000 in your browser.

Development

CuraLink runs as a Next.js application using the App Router and Server Actions. Configure the required MongoDB, authentication, Gemini, and optional external API credentials before starting the development server.

How to Contribute

Clone the repo and create a new branch:
```
git checkout -b name_for_new_branch
```
Make your changes and test thoroughly.
Submit a Pull Request with a comprehensive description of your changes.

Technologies

This software uses the following technologies:

Frontend: Next.js 14+ (App Router) + TypeScript + Tailwind CSS
Backend: Next.js Server Actions
Database: MongoDB (Mongoose ODM)
Authentication: NextAuth.js with JWT
AI: Google Gemini Pro - keyword extraction and patient-friendly summarization
External APIs: ClinicalTrials.gov, PubMed, ORCID, Google Scholar

License

MIT

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