Structure and Activities of ELIXIR Germany

Established in December 2013 as an intergovernmental organisation, ELIXIR unites life science resources such as databases, tools, training and training materials, and cloud storage across Europe. It operates through a ‘Hub and Node’ structure, with the ELIXIR Hub in the UK coordinating activities across Nodes in 21 member states, EMBL, and three observer countries: Cyprus, Austria, and Romania. ELIXIR's mission is to facilitate the sharing, discovery, and analysis of biological data and to foster best practices among life science researchers through its Platforms and Communities, which provide and manage services, tools, standards, and training.

In August 2016, Germany joined ELIXIR by signing the ELIXIR Consortium Agreement through the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), thereby establishing its national Node, ELIXIR Germany. The Node is operated by the de.NBI network, which comprises 24 partners from German universities and research institutions, including EMBL Heidelberg. Since then, ELIXIR Germany has become a pivotal national and international contributor to bioinformatics services, training, and cloud computing in the life sciences.

Key achievements:

  • Integration of the de.NBI & ELIXIR-DE data resources BRENDA, BacDive and SILVA as ELIXIR Core Data Resources (CDR), highlighting their importance in the life sciences.
  • Recognition of the European Galaxy Server as an ELIXIR Recommended Interoperability Resource (RIR).
  • Successful implementation of the ELIXIR Authentication and Authorization Infrastructure (AAI) within the de.NBI network.
  • Leadership in selected ELIXIR Platforms and Communities, including the Tools, Compute and Data Platforms, as well as the Metabolomics, Proteomics, Plant Sciences and Galaxy Communities.

    Since 2019, ELIXIR Germany's involvement extends to over 68 implementation studies and participation in the current ELIXIR Scientific Programme 2024-2028, demonstrating its significant involvement and leadership within the ELIXIR network.

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