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ELIXIR (the European life-sciences Infrastructure for biological Information) is an initiative that will allow life science laboratories across Europe to share and store their research data as part of an organised network. Its goal is to bring together Europe’s research organisations and data centres to help coordinate the collection,
ELIXIR's mission is to build a sustainable European infrastructure for biological information, supporting life science research and its translation to medicine and the environment, the bio-industries and society.
The results from biological experiments produce vast amounts of results that are stored as data using
national Node
which operates the services and resources that are part of ELIXIR. Each ELIXIR Node is itself a network of national life science organisations, coordinated by a lead institute. European Molecular Biology Laboratory is an intergovernmental organisation so it is the only Node that is not associated with a country. ELIXIR focuses efforts around five central areas of activity, referred to a
Platforms
These cover Data, Tools, Compute, Interoperability and Training. Work in these areas is intended to improve access to open data resources and tools by improving connectivity, discoverability and access to computational power, as well as developing training for users and service providers to meet these aims. ELIXIR supports users addressing the Grand Challenges in life science research across diverse domains. ELIXIR supports
range of self-selected Communities
which focus on high-level topics such as ‘Human Data’ and ‘Plant Sciences’ to more specific and focused disciplines such as ‘Metabolomics’ and ‘Intrinsically Disordered Proteins’, as well as a community dedicated to the ‘Galaxy’ resource. These communities are in place to develop bioinformatic and data standards, services and training that are required to facilitate that community to reach their scientific goals.
ELIXIR Consortium Agreement (ECA)
in order to become a member of ELIXIR: Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Cyprus is an Observer country, working towards ratifying the ECA in the near future. Countries that have signed the ECA are allocated representation on th
ELIXIR Board
The preparatory phase of ELIXIR was coordinated by Professor Dame Janet Thornton of EMBL-EBI. The Founding Director of ELIXIR, Dr Niklas Blomberg, took up his position in the new ELIXIR Hub in Cambridge in May 2013.
ESFRI Strategy Report on Research InfrastructuresELIXIR website
{{Authority control Bioinformatics organizations European Union and science and technology Information technology organizations based in Europe South Cambridgeshire District Science and technology in Cambridgeshire Wellcome Trust
quality control
Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements".
This approach places ...
and storage of large amounts of biological data produced by life science experiments. ELIXIR aims to ensure that biological data is integrated into a federated system easily accessible by the scientific community.
Mission
ELIXIR's mission is to build a sustainable European infrastructure for biological information, supporting life science research and its translation to medicine and the environment, the bio-industries and society.
The results from biological experiments produce vast amounts of results that are stored as data using computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...
software. European countries have invested heavily in research that produces, analyses and stores biological information. However, the collection, storage, archiving and integration of these large amounts of data presents a problem that cannot be tackled by one country alone. ELIXIR represents the joining of independent bioscience
''BioScience'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal that is published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. It was established in 1964 and was preceded by the ''AIBS Bulletin'' (1951–19 ...
facilities to create an integrated network that addresses the complex problem of biological data storage and management.
By providing a sustainable and distributed structure for handling data and data retrieval tools, ELIXIR hopes to secure Europe-wide investment in bioinformatics
Bioinformatics () is an interdisciplinary field that develops methods and software tools for understanding biological data, in particular when the data sets are large and complex. As an interdisciplinary field of science, bioinformatics combi ...
, providing the stability to conduct research in all areas of life science, both in academia and industry.
Organisation and structure
ELIXIR is an inter-governmental organisation which brings together existingbioinformatics
Bioinformatics () is an interdisciplinary field that develops methods and software tools for understanding biological data, in particular when the data sets are large and complex. As an interdisciplinary field of science, bioinformatics combi ...
resources. It is coordinated by the ELIXIR Hub, based alongside the European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL
The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to molecular biology research and is supported by 27 member states, two prospect states, and one associate member state. EMBL was created in 1974 and ...
-EBI) on the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus in Hinxton, Cambridge.
The members of the ELIXIR consortium are European countries, represented by their governments and ministries; the scientific community in each member country develops theinational Node
which operates the services and resources that are part of ELIXIR. Each ELIXIR Node is itself a network of national life science organisations, coordinated by a lead institute. European Molecular Biology Laboratory is an intergovernmental organisation so it is the only Node that is not associated with a country. ELIXIR focuses efforts around five central areas of activity, referred to a
Platforms
These cover Data, Tools, Compute, Interoperability and Training. Work in these areas is intended to improve access to open data resources and tools by improving connectivity, discoverability and access to computational power, as well as developing training for users and service providers to meet these aims. ELIXIR supports users addressing the Grand Challenges in life science research across diverse domains. ELIXIR supports
range of self-selected Communities
which focus on high-level topics such as ‘Human Data’ and ‘Plant Sciences’ to more specific and focused disciplines such as ‘Metabolomics’ and ‘Intrinsically Disordered Proteins’, as well as a community dedicated to the ‘Galaxy’ resource. These communities are in place to develop bioinformatic and data standards, services and training that are required to facilitate that community to reach their scientific goals.
Participants
As of August 2019 the following countries and EMBL-EBI have signed thELIXIR Consortium Agreement (ECA)
in order to become a member of ELIXIR: Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Cyprus is an Observer country, working towards ratifying the ECA in the near future. Countries that have signed the ECA are allocated representation on th
ELIXIR Board
The preparatory phase of ELIXIR was coordinated by Professor Dame Janet Thornton of EMBL-EBI. The Founding Director of ELIXIR, Dr Niklas Blomberg, took up his position in the new ELIXIR Hub in Cambridge in May 2013.
Countries on Board
* EMBL - Prof. Edith Heard, Dr. Alvis Brazma * Belgium - Dr. Laurence Lenoir * Czech Republic - Prof Jaroslav Koča * Denmark - Prof. Anders Krogh * Estonia - Prof. Lili Milani * Finland - Dr. Per Öster * France - Dr. Frédéric Boccard * Germany - Prof. Rolf Backofen, Prof. Alexander Goesmann * Greece - Prof. Christos Ouzounis, Prof. Artemis Hatzigeorgiou * Hungary - Dr. László Patthy * Ireland - Dr. Maria Nash * Israel - Dr. Yossi Kalifa * Italy - Prof. Rita Casadio * Luxembourg - Prof. Rudi Balling, Dr. Regina Becker * Netherlands - Dr. Ruben Kok * Norway - Prof. Rein Aasland, Prof. Stig Omholt * Portugal - Prof. Isabel Rocha * Slovenia - Prof. Damjana Rozman * Sweden - Prof. Björn Andersson * Spain - Prof. Ferran Sanz * Switzerland - Prof. Christian von Mering * United Kingdom - Dr. Chris RawlingsFunding
By the end of 2012 ELIXIR had completed its five-year preparatory phase funded by the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme as part of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) process. In 2015 ELIXIR was awarded €19 Million HORIZON 2020 funding to run the EXCELERATE project. This project enabled ELIXIR to coordinate and extend national and international data resources and ran until 31 August 2019. ELIXIR has also set up collaborations to apply for other large scale funding for other EU projects, in which it is also involved in an organisational capacity, for example for the CORBEL, FAIRplus, and EOSC-Life projects. Each member state jointly contributes towards the funding of the ELIXIR Hub in proportion to their GDP. Some countries have allocated new funds to contribute towards their ELIXIR Node. The services and activities of the ELIXIR Nodes will continue to be funded by national agencies. Collectively, ELIXIR members will apply for additional external funding.References
External links
ESFRI Strategy Report on Research Infrastructures
{{Authority control Bioinformatics organizations European Union and science and technology Information technology organizations based in Europe South Cambridgeshire District Science and technology in Cambridgeshire Wellcome Trust