Representatives from the European metabolomics and proteomics communities have prepared proposals to integrate metabolomics and proteomics activities in ELIXIR.
ELIXIR is the European research infrastructure for life sciences data. It brings together European resources such as databases, software tools, training materials, cloud storage, and supercomputers. DTL hosts the Dutch node of ELIXIR (Read more.) In March 2017, the proteomics community organised a workshop on the future of proteomics in ELIXIR in Tübingen (Germany). The metabolomics community followed with a workshop at Frankfurt Airport in April 2017.
ELIXIR Use Cases
Merlijn van Rijswijk, Technologies Programme Manager at DTL and Managing Director of the Netherlands Metabolomics Centre, explains: “The goal of the April 2017 workshop was to identify the main needs of the metabolomics community regarding a life science computing related infrastructure. It was jointly organised by ELIXIR-NL, ELIXIR Germany, the PhenoMeNal project, and the Netherlands Metabolomics Centre. A summary report is available online. At the workshop, we have articulated the intention to prepare a proposal for a metabolomics Use Case in the ELIXIR work programme 2019-2023. The Netherlands, in particular LUMC, will play a leading role in this effort. The proteomics community has a similar ambition, with Germany in a leading role.”
At present, there are four ELIXIR Use Cases: Human Data, Rare Disease, Marine Metagenomics, and Plant Sciences. The Use Cases coordinate ELIXIR’s activities in these four domains of life science, bringing together experts to develop specialised standards, services, workshops, and Implementation Studies in these domains. The Use Cases also provide feedback on the Platform services, which helps ensure they are practical and useful. Van Rijswijk: “Ideally, our efforts will also result in an Implementation Study in 2018 to kick-start the initiative to reap low-hanging fruits.”
White papers
The teams have written two white papers that have been published as an F1000 opinion article: A community proposal to integrate proteomics activities in ELIXIR and The future of metabolomics in ELIXIR. Van Rijswijk: “Please contact me if you want to get involved in these initiatives or if you want more information.”