5,627 training course participants in 2025 – New attendance record!

Over the past decade, the de.NBI training program has seen extraordinary growth. Beginning in 2015 with 17 face-to-face courses and 329 participants, our reach expanded steadily to 79 courses and 1,586 participants by 2019. While the 2020–2021 pandemic disrupted traditional formats, it served as a catalyst for the digital transformation of our materials. 
By leveraging innovative asynchronous formats – such as the “Galaxy Training Academy” and the “Computational genomics course for hands-on data analysis” Course – de.NBI achieved a historic milestone in 2025: training 5,627 participants across 62 courses. To date, our network has empowered over 17,000 scientists through 552 specialized training courses since 2015.

New Associated Partners in the de.NBI Network

Sebastian Lobentanzer (Helmholtz Munich) joins the de.NBI network as an associated partner with his group Accessible Biomedical AI. The group develops explainable and reliable AI systems tailored to real biomedical workflows, combining model performance with transparency and interpretability. Their service portfolio focuses on connecting biomedical knowledge with AI applications, including BioCypher for data integration and FAIR knowledge representation, BioChatter for improving access to biomedical knowledge, and BioContextAI as a registry for agent-based tools. In addition, Karenina supports the development of domain-relevant benchmarks. Training activities will cover data integration, agent-based AI applications, and deployment of user-oriented solutions in biomedical contexts.

Further, the CCU approved the application of the scverse group led by Fabian Theis (Theis Lab) and colleagues at Helmholtz Munich to become an associated partner of de.NBI & ELIXIR-DE. They contribute to the foundational tools of the scverse consortium. scverse is an open-source ecosystem for scalable, interoperable and reproducible analysis of single-cell, spatial omics and imaging data, developed by an international community of researchers and software developers. Within de.NBI & ELIXIR-DE, scverse will contribute tooling and training activities around open-source software, reproducible workflows, interoperable data structures and analysis best practices for modern molecular and imaging data. Through its community-driven approach, scverse strengthens de.NBI’s and ELIXIR-DE’s activities in single-cell analysis and data-intensive life science research.

BioHackathon Germany 2026 – Göttingen 7-11 December 2026

BioHackathon Germany 2026 will take place at the Hotel Freizeit-In in Göttingen from 7–11 December. This event remains a central forum for tackling key challenges in life science and bioinformatics. Project applications open in mid April - stay tuned for updates!

  News from ELIXIR

New ELIXIR-DE representatives
A warm welcome to Georgios Gavriilidis, who has joined BIH/Charité Berlin (Ishaque-Eils group) from the Institute of Applied Biosciences at the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (INAB | CERTH, Thessaloniki, ELIXIR-GR). George will continue to serve as Co-Lead of the ELIXIR Single Cell Omics Community in his new role. 

We also welcome our new ELIXIR-DE Officer, Enrico Seiler (FU Berlin), who will represent the Integrative Bioinformatics Service Center (CIBI).  As a member of the de.NBI Training Working Group, he focuses on enhancing the user experience by creating high-quality training resources and educational content for both SeqAn2 and SeqAn3.

Strong Participation of the German ELIXIR Node at the All Hands Meeting 2026 in Lyon
At the upcoming All Hands Meeting 2026 in Lyon, the German ELIXIR Node will be actively contributing with eight accepted workshops. The selected topics reflect both the strategic breadth of engagement and the Node’s strong commitment to shaping key developments across ELIXIR.

• Measuring What Matters: Working Together on Harmonisation of KPIs Across ELIXIR
  D. Arend, M. Feser, N.-C. Lübke, H. Schnitzer
• Beyond ELEAD – implementing local activities that foster women's leadership
  A. Jené-Sanz, N.-C. Lübke, I. Maus, X. Perez Sitja
• From Past Experience to Future Action: Laying the groundwork for an EDI focus group
  M. Frentrup, L. Chabot, F. Psomopoulos, H. Wagener, A. Jene
• Onboarding ELIXIR-on-Cloud in EOSC to operationalize federated computation
  S. Twardziok, N. Hoffmann
• Large Language Models (LLMs) in Life Science Training: Overcoming Challenges to Innovation
  D. Wibberg, R. Krause, S. Lobentanzer, F. Psomopoulos, K. Poterlowicz
• Mapping cross-project outreach and user journeys for the BFSP community
  S. Beier, C. Pommier
• Towards Standardized Tool and Infrastructure Usage Metrics
  E. Adamidi, M. Crusoe, P. De Geest, T. Vergoulis, N. Hoffmann, W. Nyberg Åkerström
• You can find details about the workshops and the agenda here.

ELIXIR General Assembly, STEERS WP4 meeting and policy event

The ELIXIR STEERS General Assembly convened in Brussels from January 12–14, 2026, bringing together 38 partner institutions to advance the sustainability and reproducibility of European research software. Before the main sessions, the WP4 meeting addressed node development, specifically highlighting the ELITMa management training and capacity-building strategies for national infrastructures. The main assembly focused on technical milestones, with a strong emphasis on "greening" high-performance computing and AI workflows across the 23 ELIXIR Nodes (+ 2 observers). 

A major highlight was the high-level policy event “Better software, better research” on the last day, where experts and European Commission representatives discussed the integration of software into the EU AI for Science Strategy. Panels led by Carole Goble and Fotis Psomopoulos emphasized treating research software as a first-class academic citizen alongside data and publications. The event concluded by reinforcing the project's role in bridging the gap between technical excellence and long-term European policy. 

Interoperability and Training Platform & Coordinator Meeting

From 10–12 February, members of the ELIXIR Interoperability and Training Platforms met in Barcelona to begin shaping the ELIXIR work programme for 2027–2028. Discussions focused on drafting new work packages building on previous platform activities. Key priorities for the Training Platform include further development of TeSS, SPLASH, Learning Paths, Train-the-Trainer activities, and the Training Metrics Database. The Interoperability Platform will continue advancing the FAIR Research Data Management ecosystem and expanding FAIR assistance and assessment activities. Representatives from the German Node actively contributed to the discussions and helped shape the initial plans for the upcoming programme.

Mobilizing microbial data

As a result of the workshop at the 2025 ELIXIR All Hands Meeting in Thessaloniki, the joint report from the Pathogen Data Focus Group and the Microbiome Community has been published. The workshop addressed critical barriers in managing microbial molecular data which is essential for tackling global challenges such as antimicrobial resistance and climate change. Participants identified that inconsistent metadata and fragmented systems remain the primary obstacles to effective data reuse. 

News from de.NBI and ELIXIR-DE Office

Visibility and Outreach

• We have developed a series of explainer comics to communicate key concepts around de.NBI services and infrastructure in an accessible and engaging format.

             

• New flyers are being prepared to highlight selected de.NBI services and make it easier to present them at conferences, meetings, and outreach events.
• A new LinkedIn series “Service in the Spotlight” has been launched to regularly showcase individual de.NBI services.

Want to stay up to date between our quarterly newsletters?
Follow us on LinkedIn, Mastodon, and Bluesky for more regular updates.

For all de.NBI members: Join OSIRIS – Create Your de.NBI & ELIXIR-DE Profile

Who is who in de.NBI & ELIXIR-DE? To help identify expertise and affiliation with network and activities across initiatives such as NFDI, ELIXIR, and EOSC, OSIRIS has been adopted as the central research information system for internal use in the de.NBI & ELIXIR-DE network. Launched at the All Hands Meeting 2025, the platform already counts 100+ registered members.

If you have not yet registered, please create your account. To obtain the required token please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Profiles are visible only to registered members.

  News on the de.NBI Cloud

News on Services

• The Galaxy Ecosystem continues to grow and support large-scale, reproducible life science data analysis across the community. Recent highlights include:
  • Galaxy Europe continues to expand as one of the largest public Galaxy instances worldwide, supporting thousands of users and millions of executed analysis jobs.
  • The Galaxy Training Network keeps expanding its catalogue of open training materials, enabling hands-on bioinformatics training across a wide range of life science topics.
  • Training Infrastructure as a Service (TIaaS) provides dedicated compute resources for training events, allowing instructors to run scalable Galaxy-based workshops.
  • Ten common misconceptions about Galaxy (why they are wrong!) The latest paper in PLOS Computational is a celebration of Galaxy's versatility, maturity, and impact across disciplines.
• Metaproteomics Consulting has joined the de.NBI service portfolio. The service supports researchers from study design to bioinformatic analysis of metaproteomics data, providing expert consulting and analysis workflows.
• ProtGraph is a newly available de.NBI service that enables the generation of protein graphs directly from UniProtKB entries, supporting advanced protein analysis and graph-based representations of proteomic data.
• LPSN has been recognized as a new ELIXIR Core Data Resource, highlighting its importance as an authoritative database for prokaryotic nomenclature and taxonomy.
• CalibraCurve is now available as a Bioconductor package, making the tool for calibration curve modelling in proteomics workflows more easily accessible within the Bioconductor ecosystem.
• BacDive introduced a design update and integrated a new Genome Browser, improving navigation and enabling easier exploration of genomic information linked to bacterial strains.
• MetFrag received an update, further improving the in silico fragmentation and identification of metabolites from mass spectrometry data.
• BRENDA released version 2026.1, including 124 new and 750 updated enzyme classes.

Recent Publications by de.NBI partners

• Chuvochina M, Gerken J, ..., Glöckner FO, Reimer LC. SILVA in 2026: a global core biodata resource for rRNA within the DSMZ digital diversity. Nucleic Acids Research. 2026 Jan 06. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaf1247
• Podlesny D, Kim CY, ..., Reimer LC, Bork P. metaTraits: a large-scale integration of microbial phenotypic trait information. Nucleic Acids Research. 2026 Jan 06. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaf1241
• Hauenstein J, Jeske L, ..., Reimer LC, Bunk B. BRENDA in 2026: a Global Core Biodata Resource for functional enzyme and metabolic data within the DSMZ Digital Diversity. Nucleic Acids Research. 2026 Jan 06. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaf1113
• Sachsenberg T, Pino LK, ..., Kohlbacher O, Bittremieux W. Perspectives in computational mass spectrometry: recent developments and key challenges. Bioinformatics Advances. 2025 Jan 01. https://doi.org/10.1093/bioadv/vbaf301
• Till A, Siddiqui RA, ..., Kohlbacher O. Germany's national genomDE strategy. Nature Medicine. 2025 Dec 01. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-03991-2
• Louail P, Brunius C, ..., Neumann S, Rainer J. In Peak Form: Now Anchoring a Complete Metabolomics Data Preprocessing and Analysis Software Ecosystem. Analytical Chemistry. 2025 Dec 23. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.5c04338
• Neumann S, Meier R, ..., Schymanski EL. MassBank: an open and FAIR mass spectral data resource. Nucleic Acids Research. 2026 Jan 06. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaf1193
• Bekiaris PS, Klamt S. COBRA-k: A powerful framework bridging constraint-based and kinetic metabolic modeling. Science Advances. 2026 Jan 23. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aeb3022
• Wood V, Jeffryes M, ..., Wittig U, Harrison M. Empowering biological knowledgebases: advances in human-in-the-loop AI-driven literature curation. Bioinformatics Advances. 2026 Jan 01. https://doi.org/10.1093/bioadv/vbag028
• Zahn-Zabala M, Ahokas M, ..., Beier S, Wibberg D. Strengthening bioinformatics education: e-learning initiatives across ELIXIR Nodes and Communities. F1000Research. 2025 Jan 01. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.173116.1
• Kuhn M, Schmidt TSB, ..., Bork P. Metalog: curated and harmonised contextual data for global metagenomics samples. Nucleic Acids Research. 2026 Jan 06. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaf1118
• Tiesmeyer S, Müller-Bötticher N, ..., Eils R, Ishaque N. Identifying 3D signal overlaps in spatial transcriptomics data with ovrlpy. Nature Biotechnology. 2026 Feb 10. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-026-03004-8
• Dimitrov D, Schrod S, Rohbeck M, Stegle O. Interpretation, extrapolation and perturbation of single cells. Nature Reviews Genetics. 2026 Jan 02. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-025-00920-4
• Bartel J, Kaulich PT, ..., Backofen R, Maaß S. CoMPaseD: advanced planning of proteomic experiments aiming to identify small proteins. microLife. 2026 Jan 01. https://doi.org/10.1093/femsml/uqaf043
• Kuang X, Liu YL, ..., Meiler J, Su Z. Superwater as a generative AI framework to predict water molecule positions on protein structures. Communications Chemistry. 2025 Dec 18. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42004-025-01789-4

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The de.NBI Quarterly Newsletter is a service of de.NBI - German Network for Bioinformatics Infrastructure for members, partners and interested public. All photos are copyright of the de.NBI administration office unless marked otherwise.