Million European Genomes Alliance: the Netherlands should join

In April 2018, thirteen European countries signed a declaration of cooperation ‘towards access to at least one million sequenced genomes in the European Union by 2022’. On behalf of a wide range of stakeholders assembled in Health-RI, Gert-Jan van Ommen (BBMRI-NL) and Ruben Kok (DTL) have sent a letter to the Dutch Minister for Healthcare encouraging the Netherlands to co-sign… Continue reading

Seventeen million euros for Netherlands X-omics Initiative

X-omics
The Netherlands X-omics Initiative has received 17 million euros from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). The funding is part of the National Roadmap for Large-Scale Research Facilities. The X-omics initiative aims to radically improve technological approaches to study biomolecules such as DNA, RNA, proteins, and metabolites. Read the NWO press release. See which other Roadmap clusters were awarded. Visit… Continue reading

National Roadmap: 138 million euros for ten top research facilities

The NWO executive board has awarded funding to ten proposals in the National Roadmap for Large-Scale Scientific Infrastructure. The total amount granted is 138 million euros. On 12 April 2018, the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Ingrid van Engelshoven, presented the ten roadmap certificates at Utrecht Science Park. Read the NWO press release. See which projects were awarded. Funds… Continue reading

Onderzoek Nederland: ‘Health-RI certainly yields a profit’

‘Onderzoek Nederland’, a biweekly newsletter on scientific research and technological innovation, has published an interview with Gerrit Meijer, co-chair of the Health-RI steering committee. In the interview, Meijer explains why Health-RI is needed to improve the data infrastructure for health research and what is needed from our government and other stakeholders. “Many biomedical research results do not make it to… Continue reading

Conference Report Health-RI 2017: from plans to action

On 8 December 2017, the Jaarbeurs in Utrecht hosted the third Health-RI conference. Health-RI co-chair Ronald Stolk (UMCG, RUG): “There were more than 350 registrations, so the number of participants has increased substantially compared to last year. This reflects the timeliness of the initiative. In contrast to the previous two conferences, where we mainly sketched our plans, we were now… Continue reading

Health-RI Business Plan released

Gerrit Meijer of the Netherlands Cancer Institute has presented the Health-RI business plan at the Health-RI conference on 8 December. The business plan is an ambitious yet realistic plan to assemble all stakeholders and create a sustainable infrastructure that will facilitate world-class personalised medicine & health research in the Netherlands. It will build on existing infrastructures and attract new partners.… Continue reading

The first Data4lifesciences symposium: a report

On 11 September 2017, the Centraal Museum in Utrecht hosted the very first Data4lifesciences symposium. D4LS Programme Manager Dr Jan-Willem Boiten: “This symposium was an important milestone for the programme; we presented an overview of our first results.” The NFU programme Data4lifesciences (D4LS) aims to realise an integrated research data infrastructure for biomedical research at the Dutch UMCs. DTL is actively involved… Continue reading

Towards an international research data infrastructure for biodiversity and ecology studies

For centuries, scientists all over the world have established enormous collections of animals, plants, microbes, fossils, minerals, and rocks. The data associated with these specimens can help researchers understand life on earth, counter biodiversity loss, and contribute to a sustainable future. However, to arrive at new scientific insights and solutions for environmental problems, researchers should integrate data from various sources.… Continue reading

Personal Health Train in LSH Knowledge and Innovation Agenda

In August 2017, the Dutch Top Sector Life Sciences & Health (LSH), launched its Knowledge and Innovation Agenda 2018-2021. This strategic document describes LSH’s health and care ambitions for the next four years. The agenda mentions that ‘many Dutch LSH highlights are famous worldwide, including the upcoming Dutch ICT-breakthrough innovation of the Personal Health Train that incorporates the FAIR principles adopted by the… Continue reading

EUR 2.25 million for essential building block of Health-RI

The Dutch Cancer Society will fund the Translational Research IT (TraIT) project with EUR 2.25 million to build an integrated Dutch biomedical research infrastructure. By gathering, processing, and storing data on a large scale, opportunities arise to accelerate and improve cancer diagnostics and treatments. An efficient and integrated research infrastructure is essential for storing and processing of these large amounts of data.… Continue reading