Structure and Aims of ELIXIR

ELIXIR, the European Life Science Infrastructure for Biological Information was founded in 2014 as an intergovernmental organization with contributing members from European States. ELIXIR aims to bring together life science resources including databases, software tools, training materials, and cloud storage from all across Europe. Following a “Hub and Node” organization model, the ELIXIR Hub (Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK) coordinates the work across ELIXIR Nodes. The consortium currently consists of 22 member states plus EMBL, and Cyprus which is an observer country. Each Node comprises a network of organizations that work within ELIXIR and has a lead institution coordinating its local activities.

ELIXIR coordinates and develops various resources for life sciences in Europe to enable easy sharing, finding and analyzing of biological data within a single infrastructure. Furthermore, ELIXIR aims to exchange expertise and implement best practices for life science researchers. The activities of the ELIXIR network are based on ‘Platforms‘ and ‘Communities‘. Platforms provide services, tools and databases as well as training. Communities develop standards and take care of services and training regarding specific life science disciplines.