What do LS RIs offer the life science community?

The 13 European Life Science Research Infrastructures (LS RIs) have the mission to support cutting-edge science by offering access to their resources and services to European scientists from academia and industry.

Resources and services can simply be consultation, access to experts, but also access to data and biological samples, use of data analysis tools, access to facilities (e.g. highly specialised microscopes) plus support from technicians and much more.

Some of these services are even free to use for institutions location in the RI's member states. 

 

The Catalogue of Services, which has been developed within the CORBEL project, is the first tool to list the main services of all LS RIs at a glance and it aims to facilitate the utilisation of RI services by researchers from all over the world. The Catalogue of Services as displayed below aims to provide you a basic overview on existing services within distinct thematic fields.

 

You can either use the Catalogue of Services to identify a single RI to help you with your work or you can create a service pipeline, i.e. using several RIs simultaneously.

What’s your need?

Please select…

BBMRI-ERIC

Contact person(s): Eleanor Shember, Contact(a)bbmri-eric.eu

BBMRI-ERIC is a research infrastructure of biobanks and biomolecular resources. Our main goal is to provide expertise and services, advancing the use of European sample collections and its data for the benefit of human health. Our activities are on a non-economic basis and primarily intended for our member countries.

Services provided

BBMRI-ERIC delivers services to their member states in IT; Quality Management; ELSI; Biobanking Development; Public Affairs; and Outreach, Education and Communications. 

  • Key IT Services

          - Directory (collecting information about biobanks and their sample/data collections)
          - Negotiator (facilitating communication between researchers requesting samples/data
                 from biobanks)
          - Bibbox (toolbox for biobanks, open-source software)
          - MIABIS 2.0 (Community standard for sharing information about biobanks)

  • Key Quality Management Services

          - Knowledge Hub (Consulting on international standards relevant for biobanking and biomedical research; Quality management tasks in EU projects)

  - Training & Support (In-house and online training, university courses, summer schools, short courses, workshops and consulting services covering various quality management systems relevant for biobanking and biomedical research )

- Auditing (The BBMRI-ERIC Self-Assessment Surveys (SAS) help to determine relevant requirements for work processes defined in international standards for biobanking and biomedical research)

- Audit programmes (Remote/on-site) (Quality check mark in Directory (assessment processes, including a remote or on-site audit, can lead to a Q-mark in the BBMRI-ERIC Directory))

  • Key ELSI Services

          - ELSI Helpdesk

          - ELSI Knowledge Base

          - Ethics Check

          - ELSI Policy Monitoring

          - Task Force Societal Issues

          - Task Force GDPR

Costs

Services are free for those biobanks that are located in a member state.
For further information please contact us.

Access modes

Access can be on-site or online, dependent on the requested service.
For further information please contact us.

Why work with us

Reproducible data in research is key and in order to achieve that, you need high-quality samples and data as a starting point. BBMRI-ERIC enables biobanks to work with high-quality samples and associated data and supports controlled access to the wider research community, being a true gateway to health.

Countries involved

Members: AT, BE, BG, CZ, EE, FI, DE, GR, HU, IT, LV, ML, NL, NO, PL, SE, SL, UK
Observers: IARC/WHO, CH, CY, LT, SP, TR

Services contact

Contact person(s): Eleanor Shember, Contact(a)bbmri-eric.eu

About

BBMRI-ERIC aims to improve the accessibility and interoperability of the existing comprehensive collections, either population-based or clinical-oriented, of biological samples from different (sub-) populations of Europe or rare diseases. These collections include the attached data on factors such as health status, nutrition, lifestyle, and environmental exposure of the study subjects. In order to fully realize the enormous potential of European biobanks and biomolecular resources for the benefit of European citizens, clinical, ethical and legal experts, the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, patient advocacy groups are collaborating in a participatory governance model (Stakeholder's Forum). The aim is to achieve standards and guidelines that properly balance individual values, such as protection of privacy and informed consent, with shared values of facilitated access to progress in health care and disease prevention.

BBMRI-ERIC will increase efficacy and excellence of European bio-medical research by facilitating fair access to quality-defined human health/disease-relevant biological resources through the inclusion of associated data in an efficient and ethically and legally compliant manner; by reducing the fragmentation of the bio-medical research landscape through harmonisation of procedures, implementation of common standards and fostering high-level collaboration; and by capacity-building in countries with less developed biobanking communities thereby contributing to Europe's cohesion policy and strengthening the ERA.

The EU’s ageing population is resulting in an increase in many of those diseases and consequently an increased healthcare expenditure for senior citizens that place pressure on the sustainability and viability of the EU’s healthcare systems. Through BBMRI-ERIC, biobanks and biomolecular resources shall develop into one of the most important tools for biomedical and clinical discovery. New medical applications, new therapies, new preventive techniques, new diagnostics, personalised or stratified medicine, and new biomedical industries shall evolve to improve socio-economic competitiveness and increase possibilities for equitable healthcare in Europe. The anticipated development shall pave the way for a new research culture in Europe. Expectantly, BBMRI-ERIC will have an impact on partnerships with patients/donors, who know that their own tissues, samples and personal data can yield discoveries and advances in medicine, diagnostics, and therapies. In return, BBMRI-ERIC is taking up the responsibility to make sure that the samples and data that have been entrusted for research are used in the best way possible for the advancement of knowledge, ultimately contributing to improved health care.

The key benefits for users of BBMRI-ERIC are fair access to quality-controlled samples and/or data from population-based, disease-oriented or rare disease biobanks including expertise in handling these biological resources for scientific purposes (ethical, legal and societal issues as well as quality handling). BBMRI-ERIC connects a distributed research infrastructure of biobanks and biomolecular resources for the benefit of the users of such resources. It puts pan-European biobanks on the map and promotes their specific strengths. BBMRI increases the accessibility to quality controlled human biological samples and associated biomedical and biomolecular data in making them findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. Ultimately, this is key for advancing stratified and precision medicine.

General contact

Website: www.bbmri-eric.eu

Contact person(s): Contact(a)bbmri-eric.eu

EATRIS-ERIC

Contact person(s): Florence Bietrix

EATRIS is the European infrastructure for translational medicine. The infrastructure brings together resources and services for research communities to translate scientific discoveries into benefits for patients.

Services provided

Services offered by EATRIS include

  • support funding applications (Identification of partners for consortium building, assessment of the project plan's impact and innovation potential)
  • translational research facilities and expertise for development of novel biomarkers, diagnostics and therapeutics
  • molecular, functional & hybrid imaging technologies, preclinical models, samples, patient cohorts, GMP manufacturing
  • regulatory and Health Technology Assessment (HTA) expertise
  • advice on intellectual property issues and industry partnering strategy (innovation management)

Costs

Costs are calculated on a case by case basis depending on the service required; some services can also be provided as part of funding proposals with EATRIS joining consortia as partner or subcontractor.
For further information please contact us.

Access modes

Services performed can be offered either centrally by the coordination and support team based in Amsterdam or remotely by the EATRIS institutions.

Why work with us

Translating novel biology insights into effective interventions or medical applications is a highly complex process. It requires significant dedicated expertise, facilities and resources. We believe in your medical innovation and we want to support you by bringing together the multi-disciplinary expertise and infrastructure required for optimising your translational trajectory. Working with EATRIS gives greater confidence in the translational feasibility of your project and its impact.

Countries involved

FR, NL, CZ, HR, SE, NO, FI, IT, ES, SI, LU, LV, PO, BG

Services contact

Contact person(s): Florence Bietrix

About

EATRIS is the European infrastructure for translational medicine. The infrastructure brings together resources and services for research communities to translate scientific discoveries into benefits for patients.

EATRIS provides access to a vast array of pre-clinical and clinical expertise and facilities that are available within 115+ top-tier academic centres across Europe. The infrastructure focuses on improving and optimising preclinical and early clinical development of drugs, vaccines and diagnostics, and overcome barriers to health innovation.

The research infrastructure offers a broad range of research services for both academia and industry across various research fields. In addition, EATRIS works with public funding agencies, charities and policymakers with tailored actions to help improve the translational research and innovation ecosystem.

General contact

Website: eatris.eu

Contact person(s): Florence Bietrix

ECRIN-ERIC

Contact person(s): European Correspondent in your country, Christine Kubiak

ECRIN is a pan-European distributed infrastructure that links scientific partners across Europe to facilitate multinational clinical research. ECRIN provides sponsors and investigators with support for the development and implementation of multinational clinical trials.

Services provided

Services offered by ECRIN include

  • information and advice for funding applications and preparation of multinational clinical trials (methodology, operational aspects, regulatory, ethics, contracting...)
  • trial management operations (interaction with competent authorities & ethics committees, project management, monitoring, vigilance, data management)
  • clinical trial tools (outcome measures, regulatory database, site locations, risk-based monitoring)
  • data centre certification program (audits European, non-commercial data centres using ECRIN IT/DM standards, to confirm their ability to provide compliant, effective, and efficient data management services for controlled clinical trials)

Costs

Information and advice are free for ECRIN members. The cost of trial management services depends on the type of service requested. Data centre certification costs depend on the type of country membership.

Access modes

Users submit their proposal or request to ECRIN office; the access mode depends on proposal and needs. There are annual calls for data centre certification.

Why work with us

Difficulties in locating clinical trials units, fulfilling local legal, regulatory and ethical requirements, and coordinating multi-country clinical trial management deter many researchers from attempting multinational clinical trials. This means that most independent clinical trials are conducted in single centres, or multiple centres within one country. ECRIN provides a path through Europe's fragmented health and legal systems with its pan-European infrastructure that is designed to support multinational clinical research and unlock access to patients and medical expertise.

Countries involved

FR, DE, HU, IT, NO, ES, PT, CZ, IE
Observer: CH, SK, PL

Services contact

Contact person(s): European Correspondent in your country, Christine Kubiak

About

Since its creation in 2004, ECRIN has been working to help researchers overcome the challenges inherent to multinational clinical trials in Europe.

ECRIN focuses on academic-sponsored multinational clinical trials as well as clinical trials initiated by biotech and medical device small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It provides support to sponsors and investigator-initiated trials and helps them navigate Europe’s fragmented health and legal systems. Multi-country clinical trials mean greater access to patients, resources, and expertise, and, in turn, faster and potentially more robust results. 

ECRIN’s organisational model is based on country membership. Each country has a European Correspondent, who manages the trial portfolio and coordinates with the national scientific hub (i.e. network of clinical trial units, CTUs) with support from the Paris-based Core Team.

ECRIN provides support for the preparation of multinational clinical trials (e.g. trial logistics, funding applications), the validation of study protocols (scientific and logistical review), and trial management (coordination, submissions to competent authorities and ethics committees; monitoring; adverse event reporting; data management). In support of these activities, it develops and maintains freely accessible tools such as databases on regulatory and ethical requirements, outcome measures, and risk-based monitoring.

ECRIN currently provides consultancy and management services to more than 40 trials, with an average of seven countries per trial.

In addition, ECRIN contributes to capacity building projects aiming to establish shared services in biomedical areas and to foster international cooperation in non-commercial trials.

General contact

Website: www.ecrin.org

Contact person(s): Christine Kubiak

ELIXIR

Contact person(s): Dr. Jerry Lanfear

ELIXIR unites Europe’s leading life science organisations in managing and safeguarding the increasing volume of data being generated by publicly funded research. It coordinates, integrates and sustains bioinformatics resources across its member states and enables users in academia and industry to access services that are vital for their research.

Services provided

ELIXIR coordinates a core set of critical services, databases and tools that are very widely used across the life science research community in Europe. They include

  • databases
  • tools
  • interoperibility services
  • computing facilities
  • training courses

An overview on ELIXIR services can be found here

Costs

Whilst there may be a charge for accessing some national compute facilities, the majority of services are free for users. For example, depositing and accessing data from databases is free, as are training courses, interoperiblity services and tools for the analsyis of data.
For further information please contact us.

Access modes

Users access the services virtually (online) and directly with the resource they are interested in.
No application to or access via the ELIXIR Hub is required.

Why work with us

ELIXIR coordinates and develops life science resources across Europe so that researchers can more easily find, analyse and share data, exchange expertise, and implement best practices. This makes it possible for them to gain greater insights into how living organisms work.

Countries involved

EMBL, UK, SE, CH, CZ, EE, NO, NL, DK, IL, PT, FI, FR, ES, BE, IT, SI, LU, IE, DE, HU, GR
Observer: CY

Services contact

Contact person(s): Dr. Jerry Lanfear

About

Life sciences experiments and research produce large amounts of data. Some of these vast datasets are highly specialised and are only available to researchers within the country in which they were generated. The aim of ELIXIR is to orchestrate and vertebrate the collection, quality control and archiving of these large amounts of valuable data and provide open access to researchers across the world.

ELIXIR unites Europe’s leading life-science organisations in managing and safeguarding the massive amounts of data being generated in publicly funded research. It coordinates, integrates and sustains bioinformatics resources across its Member States and enables users in academia and industry to access vital data, tools, standards, compute and training services for their research.
The application areas supported by ELIXIR are broad and cover disciplines including among others: marine metagenomics, plant sciences, biodiversity, human data, rare diseases, systems biology, and cheminformatics.  

ELIXIR Nodes (the different institutions that represent the ELIXIR Members) run hundreds of existing services that are open for use by researchers. These services can be categorised into the following:

  •   Databases (deposition archives and value-added knowledge bases)
  •   Tools
  •   Standards and interoperability of standards
  •   Training courses
  •   Compute resources
  •   Data management support
  •   Cooperation with industry 

General contact

Website: www.elixir-europe.org

Contact person(s): Friederike Schmidt-Tremmel

EMBRC

Contact person(s): info(at)embrc.eu

The European Marine Biological Research Centre (EMBRC-ERIC) is a Research Infrastructure including 29 Operators across 9 different European countries. EMBRC is dedicated for marine biology and ecology research. EMBRC offers to the scientific community, academic institutions and private companies a comprehensive set of services to study marine organisms and to give access to ecosystems. EMBRC is providing local or remote access to state-of-the-art national facilities such as renowned marine biological stations.

Services provided

The EMBRC service offer includes

  • access to ecosystems: coastal research vessels, scientific diving facilities, submersibles (ROV/AUV), in-situ sampling facilities and monitoring equipment, field stations
  • marine biological resources (micro & macro, alive & fixed, wild & cultivated): biobanks, culture collections (algae, bacteria, zooplankton... within RCC, MOLA, PCC, MCCV), marine model organisms, sampling upon request
  • experimental facilities: aquaria & mesocosms, wet and dry laboratories, climate rooms, field experiment
  • technology platforms: aquaculture, biological analysis, imaging, molecular biology and ‘omics, remote sensing and telemetry, structural and chemical analysis, other
  • e-Infrastructure, data & services: data, data analysis tools and softwares, computing and storage infrastructure, bioinformatics and data management services
  • supporting facilities: in-house lodging, in-house catering (administrative restaurant), workspaces (e.g. offices, conference and meeting rooms with videoconference system), training facilities, lab spaces (wet laboratories, aquariums with different volumes capacities)

Costs

Prices depend on the nature of the service and are available upon request.

Access modes

Through the 29 European operators, users can access the services remotely or on-site. The user has to select the service of interest, submit a proposal and he/she will receive feedback or be contacted.

Why work with us

Researchers should contact us in order to have access to marine ecosystems, marine biological resources and associated technological platforms for analysis.

Countries involved

BE, ES, FR, IT, GR, NO, PT, IL, UK

Services contact

Contact person(s): info(at)embrc.eu

About

The EMBRC-ERIC is a pan-European distributed research infrastructure that aims to provide a strategic delivery mechanism for excellent and large-scale marine biological and ecological research in Europe. With its services, EMBRC will support both fundamental and applied research based on marine bioresources and ecosystems.

In particular, EMBRC aims to drive forward the development of blue biotechnologies. 

Catering for users from academia, industry, policy and the technology sectors, EMBRC provides a unique entry point to access an integrated portfolio of services, bio-technology research platforms and marine organisms, as well as analytical and historical environmental data, to investigate the potential of the marine bioresources to deliver for societally relevant research domains:

  1. Human health and well-being: Marine organisms have historically proven to be fundamental models to understand human cell physiology. More recently, the untapped chemistry of marine natural products is providing the necessary novel bioactives and biomaterials to address the issues of antibiotic resistance, cancer therapy, tissue regeneration and drug delivery, among others. EMBRC is the first step of the health and well-being biodiscovery pipeline based on the sustainable use of marine bioresources.
  2. Sustainability of food production: With a soaring global demand for protein, and aquaculture recently surpassing beef farming production, marine biology and ecology are key disciplines to create sustainable harvesting/rearing programmes and policies. EMBRC provides state of the art facilities to test the impact of treatments, such as nutrition and/or health measures, as well as the effects of environmental conditions, on the productivity of reared biological resources.
  3. Industrial process innovation: Marine enzymes and proteins can support novel process development in the chemical industries; efficient and effective cultivation methods and technologies, as well as extraction techniques are also in high demand by the bio-refinery industry. EMBRC is key to specifically bioprospecting marine biota for white biotechnology applications.
  4. Environmental adaptations to climate and pollution: In depth knowledge of marine biology and ecology is essential to preserve the natural marine environment and its services. EMBRC can provide the indoor and outdoor scalable settings to experiment the impact of different environmental conditions on biota, as well as mitigation and remediation measures.  

Delegated services as well as private research are available at the EMBRC premises, satisfying both academic and industrial users. Excellence of research will be supported creating a virtuous mechanisms and a recognizable quality label, stimulating mutual development and building on reciprocal prestige. Coordinating a wide range of expertise in various research domains, EMBRC will be driven by a truly multidisciplinary community, setting the goals and achieving the objectives of the EU research and innovation agenda.

General contact

Website: www.embrc.eu

Contact person(s): secretariat(at)embrc.eu

EMPHASIS

Contact person(s): Dr. Roland Pieruschka, Dr. Sven Fahrner

EMPHASIS is a pan-European, distributed plant phenotyping infrastructure. EMPHASIS will focus on developing and enabling access to plant phenotyping infrastructure and provision of services essential for the analysis of crop performance with respect to structure, function, quality and interaction with the environment. It will thus support the exploitation of crop genetic diversity required for the enhancement of plant productivity and progress in plant breeding.

Services provided

In cooperation with EPPN2020, EMPHASIS offers access to plant phenotyping infrastructures, which includes

  • high-throughput facilities
  • lean field facilities
  • intensive field facilities
  • assay development
  • data management

Further services are currently under development and will be implemented in its operational phase.

Costs

The access provided currently via EPPN2020 is free of charge for selected user-groups, based on a simple application procedure and includes the logistical, technological and scientific support as well as specific training required to successfully complete the approved Transnational Access project.
For further information please contact us.

Access modes

European-wide access to plant phenotyping infrastructures is currently under development in our partner project EPPN2020 and is provided via its homepage.

Access will be accordingly provided by EMPHASIS once it reaches its operational phase.

Why work with us

EPPN2020 provides transnational access to plant phenotyping infrastructure as a basis for novel scientific approaches to quantitative plant assessment in high throughput. The installations represent a diverse set of facilities for plant phenotyping in Europe with focus on: i) non-invasive high-throughput phenotyping under controlled conditions, ii) destructive sampling aiming at assessing underlying traits helping to understand the genetic variability of different plant processes, iii) controlled field facilities allowing users to control rainfall and/or the concentration of air CO2 together with high-definition, non-invasive sensors. Transnational access will be available based on a simple and transparent access procedure.

Countries involved

Preparatory Phase of the project: BE, FR, IT, NL, UK, DE

Services contact

Contact person(s): Dr. Roland Pieruschka, Dr. Sven Fahrner

About

EMPHASIS is a pan-European distributed plant phenotyping infrastructure project. EMPHASIS will focus on developing and enabling access to plant phenotyping infrastructure and provision of services, essential for the analysis of crop performance with respect to structure, function, quality and interaction with the environment. It will thus support the exploitation of crop genetic diversity required for the enhancement of plant productivity and progress in plant breeding.

Plant derived products are at the centre of grand challenges posed by increasing requirements for food, feed and bio-based raw materials. Integrating approaches across all scales from molecular to field applications are necessary to develop sustainable plant production with higher yield and at the same time using limited resources. While significant progress has been made in molecular and genetic approaches in recent years, the quantitative analysis of plant performance has become the major bottleneck. The challenge is to address multi-scale phenotyping for analysing genotype performance under diverse environmental conditions and quantify the diversity of traits contributing to performance, i.e. plant architecture, major functions, yield components and quality. Improvement of plant performance under changing climates requires the use of different categories of infrastructure combined with a coordinated infrastructure for storing and analysing data, and platforms for plant/crop modelling associated with phenotyping platforms.

Thus, plant phenotyping focuses on development and implementation of non-invasive technology, which can be used beyond plant sciences in disciplines such as image analysis, remote sensing or automation engineering. Additionally, plant phenotyping produces a number of data relevant for basic understanding in life sciences and practical breeding.

General contact

Website: emphasis.plant-phenotyping.eu

Contact person(s): emphasis(at)fz-juelich.de

ERINHA

Contact person(s): Diana Stepanyan-Yerdamian, Dylan Bonfils, contact(at)erinha.eu

ERINHA is a pan-European distributed life sciences research Infrastructure dedicated to the study of highly infectious emerging and re-emerging high-consequence pathogens (RG4 & unknown). It brings together leading European high containment and complementary research facilities and expertise required to perform cutting-edge research on highly infectious diseases. ERINHA provides access to its state of art BSL-4 laboratories and complementary capacities and expertise to perform excellence orientated in-vitro and in-vivo research projects, trainings and advise. A wide range of capabilities and functions from high basic research laboratory capacities to NHP modeling research are provided by ERINHA, as well as expertise of senior scientists and access to complementary functions (from BSL1 to BSL4, genomics, proteomics etc.).

 

ERINHA produces the ideal environment to facilitate coordination of research on high-consequence pathogens in Europe. The infrastructure will contribute to the enhancement of the European and global capacity, capability and emergency preparedness in the response to global outbreaks.

 

Since 2018, ERINHA has been granted landmark status by the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI).

 

Services provided

The services offered by ERINHA include

  • Access to state of art European high containment (BSL4 & BSL3) and complementary facilities to advance research on high-consequence pathogens. In-vivo testing with a variety of animal models (including small rodents, ferrets, and non-human primates). In-vitro experiments using highly pathogenic agents with both in-person and remote access possibilities.
  • Project coordination and management of large scale research programmes on high consequence pathogens
  • Training (General Biosecurity Training; Operations of a Biosafety Laboratory; Training for potential users)
  • Advice and scientific expertise provider: RG4 pathogens research, containment facilities construction, biosafety/biosecurity issues, sample transport etc.
  • Access to pathogens specimens

Costs

For access costs information contact ERINHA Central Coordinating Unit (CCU) at contact(at)erinha.eu

Access modes

ERINHA provides in-person and remote access to its services. Projects can be submitted by academic, public and industrial users. For more information contact ERINHA CCU at contact(at)erinha.eu

Why work with us

The 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak and cases in Europe demonstrated the worldwide vulnerability and need for common action putting together rare high containment capacities and expertise to be able to increase European and global preparedness for outbreaks of high consequence pathogens. ERINHA facilitates access to required infrastructure capacities thanks to its CCU and multiple high containment and complementary European resources. It is a unique coordinated infrastrucuture providing transnational access to its facilities, large scope of services and shorter delays in access.

Countries involved

Austria (Medical University of Graz), Belgium (KUL), France (Inserm), Hungary (Ministry of Human Capacities), Netherlands (ERASMUS MC), Portugal (INSA), Spain (Instituto de Salud Carlos III), Sweden (FOHM)

Services contact

Contact person(s): Diana Stepanyan-Yerdamian, Dylan Bonfils, contact(at)erinha.eu

About

ERINHA is a pan-European distributed life sciences research Infrastructure dedicated to the study of highly infectious emerging and re-emerging high-consequence pathogens (RG4 & unknown). It brings together leading European high containment and complementary research facilities and expertise required to perform cutting-edge research on highly infectious diseases. ERINHA provides access to its state of art BSL-4 laboratories and complementary capacities and expertise to perform excellence orientated in-vitro and in-vivo research projects, trainings and advise. A wide range of capabilities and functions from high basic research laboratory capacities to NHP modeling research are provided by ERINHA, as well as expertise of senior scientists and access to complementary functions (from BSL1 to BSL4, genomics, proteomics etc.). 

ERINHA produces the ideal environment to facilitate coordination of research on high-consequence pathogens in Europe. The infrastructure will contribute to the enhancement of the European and global capacity, capability and emergency preparedness in the response to global outbreaks.

Since 2018, ERINHA has been granted landmark status by the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI).

General contact

Website: www.erinha.eu

Contact person(s): contact(at)erinha.eu

EU-OPENSCREEN

Contact person(s): Project Manager: Dr. Tanja Miletic

EU-OPENSCREEN integrates high-capacity screening platforms throughout Europe, which jointly use a rationally selected compound collection, comprising up to 140.000 commercial and proprietary compounds collected from European chemists. EU-OPENSCREEN offers to researchers from academic institutions, SMEs and industrial organisations open access to its shared resources.

EU-OPENSCREEN will collaboratively develop novel molecular tool compounds with external users from various disciplines of the life sciences.

Services provided

Services provided by EU-OPENSCREEN include

  • high-throughput compound/ drug screening (HTS): HTS of an assay against the EU-OPENSCREEN chemical collection (> 100,000 compounds); in silico profiling; hit selection; confirmatory screening; basic counter screening; basic SAR based on screening data; QC of confirmed hits
  • access to a unique European compound collection: EU-OPENSCREEN chemical collection (> 100,000 compounds)
  • assay adaption: This assay adaptation process will involve a strong emphasis on quality, including: quality control of reagents; (patho-)physiological relevance; pharmacological consistency; robustness; minimised variability; and tracking of statistical descriptors (e.g. signal to background and the Z’ factor) 
  • chemical optimization and profiling of preliminary ‘hits’
  • bioprofiling of donated compounds: All compounds donated by the user which enter the EU-OPENSCREEN ERIC compound collection are characterised and annotated for basic physico-chemical (e.g. identity, solubility, light absorbance and fluorescence) and essential to know biological properties (cytotoxicity, antibiotic, antifungal etc.) by testing in a standard panel of assays.
  • provision of standardised data: All data generated through QC/bioprofiling and screening activities will be published in EU-OPENSCREEN’s open-access database with an optional ‘grace’ period (i.e. delayed publication of data). Large-scale open-access data provide the basis for computational data integration to obtain a systematic view, allow for prediction of drug-target interactions and networks as well as of adverse effects and drug combinations. The access to the EU-OPENSCREEN database will utilize the facilities of ChEMBL.
  • training and education activities

Costs

A screening project at a typical EU-OPENSCREEN screening site will cost 50-250k €, strongly depending on the number of screened substances and the maturity/ complexity of the assay.
A compound replenishment fee structure applies to all projects using the EU-OPENSCREEN compound collection and users from countries which are members of the EU-OPENSCREEN ERIC will receive a discount on this cost.
For further information please contact us.

Access modes

Users are requested to submit project proposal to the EU-OPENSCREEN office. Depending on the project requirements, the RI can be assessed remotely or on-site.

Why work with us

The majority of scientists in Europe do not have access to suitable technology platforms and compound collections, which are generally expensive to purchase, operate and maintain. As a large-scale research infrastructure (RI) with an ‘open’ pre-competitive character, EU-OPENSCREEN will cost-effectively overcome this limitation by: involving and providing access to Europe’s leading screening platforms and chemistry groups; offering a jointly used rationally designed compound collection; and operating an open-access bioactivity database which will be accessible on a global basis. EU-OPENSCREEN offers to support you through grant application processes and beyond for funding involving screening projects.

Countries involved

CZ, FI, DE, LV, NO, PO, ES, DK

Services contact

Contact person(s): Project Manager: Dr. Tanja Miletic

About

Chemical Biology is a new interdisciplinary research field which studies the effects of chemical compounds on biological systems. The primary objective of EU-OPENSCREEN is to offer access to a distributed Chemical Biology research infrastructure which meets the needs of scientists seeking a better understanding on how fundamental molecular processes act to govern biological function at the organismal, tissue, cellular and pathway levels by applying small chemical compounds.

Using a well-founded collaborative working model, infrastructure users and EU-OPENSCREEN teams will identify and develop novel small chemical compounds which elicit specific biological responses on organisms, cells or cellular components. These bioactive compounds are identified by means of screening large collections of >100,000 molecules, in an automated process, using robotics-based high-throughput screening platforms, and optimised by medicinal chemistry means.

The majority of scientists in Europe, however, do not have access to suitable technology platforms and compound collections, which are generally expensive to purchase, operate and maintain. As a large-scale research infrastructure (RI) with an ‘open’ pre-competitive character, EU-OPENSCREEN will cost-effectively overcome this limitation by: involving and providing access to Europe’s leading screening platforms and chemistry groups; constructing a jointly used compound collection; and operating an open-access bioactivity database which will be accessible on a global basis.

The chemical compounds which will be developed in the framework of EU-OPENSCREEN have a number of key advantages and allow interrogation of complex biological processes that cannot be properly studied with traditional genetic approaches. They drive innovation as they help validate biological targets as ‘druggable’ (i.e. be modulated by chemical compounds) which makes them highly attractive starting points for further optimisation into marketable medicines or crop-protective agents by pharmaceutical, AgriScience and biotechnology companies.  

Access to the EU-OPENSCREEN expertise and resources is available to all researchers worldwide. EU-OPENSCREEN will represent a globally relevant resource and will attract users from a variety of scientific disciplines and geographical regions. The key users can be divided into three major user groups:

  1. Assay providing users who will access the screening infrastructure: Researchers with a suitable, robust and screening compatible assay, interested in developing specific chemical compounds (i.e. inhibitor or activator) for their biological mechanism or pathway-of-interest to answer a biological question. In the first step, these assays are screened against the EU-OPENSCREEN ERIC compound collection; in the second step, the identified active compounds (‘hits’) are chemically optimised and translated into valuable tool compounds, which are made available to the broader scientific community.
  2. Compound providing users who will donate compounds: Chemists who donate their compounds can use the EU-OPENSCREEN services to expose their compounds to a large number of screens, and thereby a wide range of biological targets. The unique value proposition for chemists is that the biological activities of their compounds will be described in-depth and that their compounds may be identified as active 'hit' compounds, thereby triggering new collaborations between chemistry and biology communities.
  3. Database users who will access the EU-OPENSCREEN database: The open-access EU-OPENSCREEN database will serve as the publicly accessible database and collaborative data sharing environment for all EU-OPENSCREEN generated data. It is designed to support the requirements of both academia (encouraging exchange of knowledge) and industry (allowing suitable protection of IP).

General contact

Website: www.eu-openscreen.eu

Contact person(s): office(at)eu-openscreen.eu

Euro-BioImaging

Contact person(s): Johanna Bischof, Alessandra Viale

Euro-BioImaging offers life scientists open access to imaging instruments, expertise, training opportunities, and data management services that they do not find at their home institutions or among their collaboration partners. All scientists, regardless of affiliation, area of expertise, or field of activity, can benefit from these pan-European open access services.

Services provided

Euro-BioImaging offers state-of-the-art imaging services through its internationally renowned facilities, called Nodes. Nodes cover the whole spectrum of biological and biomedical imaging, with an ever-growing portfolio of cutting-edge instruments. Researchers at any stage of their career can request access to over 45+ imaging technologies hosted at 33 Nodes located in 16 European countries and at EMBL. New technologies are included continuously to offer access to the most innovative and pioneering technologies on the market. 

Please visit the Euro-BioImaging Web Access Portal for detailed information about the offered services.

Costs

The access fees for each visit are individually discussed and agreed upon directly between the Euro-BioImaging user and the respective Euro-BioImaging Node as part of the pre-visit discussion during the project planning phase. The user is therefore fully informed of all costs that will arise related to the access to a Euro-BioImaging Node. The Euro-BioImaging Hub, taking care of all administrative work in Euro-BioImaging, do not charge any costs to the users!

Access support for users is announced on the Euro-BioImaging Web Portal.

Access modes

Euro-BioImaging offers open access to its technology portfolio, which is put in place using a selection procedure based on scientific soundness and technical feasibility of the project. In most cases, scientists visit the requested Node to perform their experiments on-site, being supported throughout their project by expert technical staff. Access to the image data resources are remote, online and can be found via the Euro-BioImaging Web Portal.

Why work with us

All scientists, regardless of affiliation, area of expertise, or field of activity, can benefit from Euro-BioImaging’s pan-European open access services. For most technologies, scientists are invited to receive hands-on training at the imaging instrument of their choice so that they can generate the desired data sets themselves and expand their technological knowledge. Visits can vary in length between single days to several weeks or months, depending on the project’s need and individual circumstances. Scientists interested in accessing Euro BioImaging services simply submit a short description of their planned experiment via the online application portal. Senior scientists and Node staff will offer expert advice on the project’s scope and experimental set-up to ensure that the experiment has the best chance of success from the very first visit.

Countries involved

Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Israel, Italy , Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, EMBL (intergovernmental organisation), Belgium (observer)

Services contact

Contact person(s): Johanna Bischof, Alessandra Viale

About

Innovative imaging technologies are revolutionizing biology and medicine by allowing researchers to visualize, characterize and measure molecular and cellular function with a precision never reached before. Through Euro-BioImaging, life scientists can access imaging instruments, expertise, training opportunities and data management services that they might not find at their home institutions or among their collaboration partners. All scientists, regardless of their affiliation, area of expertise or field of activity can benefit from these pan-European open access services, which are provided with high quality standards by leading imaging facilities.

The technologies offered by Euro-BioImaging can be accessed at Nodes, which are internationally renowned imaging facilities distributed across Europe. They cover the whole spectrum of biological and biomedical imaging, with an ever-growing portfolio of cutting-edge instruments. Currently, the offered services include about 40 different technologies.

For most technologies, scientists are invited to receive hands-on training at the imaging instrument of their choice so that they can generate the desired data sets themselves and expand their technological knowledge. Visits can vary in length between single days to several weeks or months, depending on the project’s need and individual circumstances. Scientists interested in accessing Euro-BioImaging services simply submit a short description of their planned experiment via the online application portal. Senior scientists and Node staff will offer expert advice on the project’s scope and experimental set-up to ensure that the experiment has the best chance of success from the very first visit.

General contact

Website: www.eurobioimaging.eu

Contact person(s): Antje Keppler, Johanna Bischof

INFRAFRONTIER

Contact person(s): INFRAFRONTIER Scientific User Support

INFRAFRONTIER is the European research infrastructure for the development, phenotyping, archiving and distribution of model mammalian genomes. It is formed by more than 25 research centres in 14 European countries and Canada. In INFRAFRONTIER these partners join forces to commonly advance the basic understanding of human health and disease using mouse and rodent models.

Services provided

Services offered by INFRAFRONTIER include

  • archiving and distribution of scientifically valuable mutant mouse strains
  • rodent model development (mouse and rat) using gene targeting in embryonic ES-cells or CRISPR/CAS9 technologies
  • systemic phenotyping of mutant mice for a whole-organism view on gene function
  • germ-free (axenic) mice
  • validated genetically engineered mouse models of cancer
  • access to comprehensinve expertise and training

    Costs

    Some of the INFRAFRONTIER resources and services are provided free of charge, others entail user fees to recover costs.
    There are periodic Open Calls to fund researchers, for detailed information see the INFRAFRONTIER website.
    For further information please contact us.

    Access modes

    Access modalities vary with the kind of resource or service requested.
    For further information please contact us.

    Why work with us

    INFRAFRONTIER provides access to unique resources and expertise to advance the understanding of human health and disease using mammalian models. Our users can rely on highest quality standards and long-standing experience. INFRAFRONTIER’s one-stop-shop facilitates efficient research.

    Countries involved

    DE, GR, FI, CZ, FR, EMBL

    Services contact

    Contact person(s): INFRAFRONTIER Scientific User Support

    About

    Europe urgently needs to find solutions for the grand challenges in the area of health. Different forms of cancer, metabolic diseases such as diabetes and obesity, chronic lung diseases, cardiovascular diseases, rare diseases, and infectious diseases are global threats to socio-economic well-being.

    Mammalian models have proven to be a key resource for biomedical research to understand human diseases and to develop treatments for them. Mouse studies have been key to the six of the last 10 Nobel Awards in Medicine and Physiology and to breakthrough discoveries in the functional basis of human health and disease and are used in pre-clinical screening and drug development. The INFRAFRONTIER Research Infrastructure provides access to centralised high-quality resources and data for the development, phenotyping, archiving and distribution of mammalian models. Access is provided for individual researchers (bottom-up access) and for national, European and international research programmes (top-down access).

    The INFRAFRONTIER Mouse Clinics offer access to a comprehensive first-line systemic phenotypic analysis covering a wide range of physiological functions ranging from cardiovascular, neuro-behaviour and metabolism expertise to detailed pathology assessments.

    The nodes of the European Mouse Mutant Archive (EMMA) establish and manage a unified non-profit repository for maintaining medically relevant mouse mutants and making them available to the scientific community. EMMA is by far the largest mouse repository in Europe and the third-largest non-profit mouse archive worldwide. EMMA comprises over 5200 mutant mouse lines carrying targeted, transgenic, induced and other types of mutations.

    INFRAFRONTIER also provides specialised services, training and consulting.

    General contact

    Website: www.infrafrontier.eu

    Contact person(s): info(at)infrafrontier.eu

    Instruct-ERIC

    Contact person(s): Dr. Claudia Alen Amaro, Coordinator Head of Operations

    Instruct-ERIC is a pan-European research infrastructure in structural biology, making high-end technologies and methods available to scientists. Access is provided free for academic scientists at Instruct centres and includes expert support.

    Services provided

    Services offered by Instruct include

    • Sample Preparation: Crystallisation, Nanobody Discovery, Protein Production;
    • Biomolecular Analysis: Imaging, Mass Spectrometry, Molecular Biophysics;
    • 3D Structural Analysis: Electron Microscopy, Magnetic Resonance Techniques, X-ray Techniques;
    • Compuational Services for Structural Biology: Bioinformatics Tools, Integrative Modelling, Crystallography, Electron Microscopy, NMR

    https://instruct-eric.org/platform-catalogue

    Costs

    Free for academic users; on service-basis for commercial use (user access is on a fee for service basis; no obligation to disclose or publish data).
    Users can apply for travel and accommodation costs where a physical visit to an Instruct facility is required.
    For further information please contact us.

    Access modes

    Depending on the requested service, access can be on-site, remote, or mail-in sample.

    For further information please contact us.

    Why work with us

    Instruct is at the cutting edge of new technologies: automation, remote access, new detector methods, advanced imaging. Access to Instruct-ERIC infrastructure can help advance your research - more than 1200 peer-reviewed scientific publications acknowledge Instruct.

    Countries involved

    BE, CZ, EMBL, FI, FR, DE, GR, IL, IT, LV, LT, NL, PT, SK, SI, ES, UK

    About

    Instruct-ERIC is a pan-European research infrastructure in structural biology, making high-end technologies and methods available to users from Instruct member countries. Users are given access to highly specialised instruments, with on-site expertise to help them gain the best results for their projects.

    Structural biology is one of the key frameworks on which we interpret molecular and cellular functions. The main experimental technologies are complementary, and increasingly link detailed atomic structure with cellular context. Structural biology is currently in the middle of a revolution enabled by significant advances in the tools and technologies available (direct electron detectors in EM, advances in synchrotron sources and detectors, XFELs, ultra-high field NMR, super-resolution cryo-light microscopy).

    General contact

    Website: instruct-eric.org

    Contact person(s): Claudia Alén Amaro

    MIRRI

    Contact person(s): MIRRI Interim Secretariat

    MIRRI is the pan-European research infrastructure for microbial resources [i.e. bacteria (including cyanobacteria), archaea, fungi, yeasts, plant viruses, bacteriophages and their isolated DNA]. In addition, the MIRRI repertoire also covers human, animal and plant cell cultures.

    By provision of high quality microorganisms, associated data and the broad expertise of our partners, MIRRI aims to support research and development in the field of biotechnology.

    Services provided

    MIRRI services comprise

    • access to microorganisms/cell lines deposited in public collections
    • deposit of microorganisms/cell lines (public collection/patents)
    • phenotypic/molecular characterisation of microorganisms
    • identification/molecular typing of microorganisms
    • isolation/cultivation/preservation of microorganisms
    • microbial community analyses
    • microbial phylogenetic studies
    • screening/bioassays with microorganisms
    • access to microbiological databases
    • consultancy/contract research
    • legal issues (e.g. Nagoya Protocol)
    • biosafety/biosecurity
    • training

    Costs

    Costs depend on the kind of service requested.
    For further information please contact us.

    Access modes

    Access modes depend on the kind of service requested.
    For further information please contact us.

    Why work with us

    MIRRI offers not only a broad spectrum of high quality microorganisms, but also a longlasting expertise in each field of microbiology. Aiming at harmonising the current microbial Biological Resource Centre (mBRC) landscape, MIRRI enables facilitated access to deposited microorganisms and is constantly improving the corresponding state-of-the-art service offers. Our experts ensure legal compliance of resources (Nagoya Protocol) and with the envisaged interoperability of existing and future databases researchers can exploit the full value of microorganisms.

    Countries involved

    under development

    Services contact

    Contact person(s): MIRRI Interim Secretariat

    About

    MIRRI-ERIC provides a unique access point to biological resources, related information, services and expertise of 35 microbial resource centres (mBRCs) located in 10 countries. This means that about 450.000 resources (such as bacteria -including cyanobacteria-, archaea, fungi, yeasts, plant viruses, bacteriophages and their isolated DNA as well as human, animal and plant cell cultures) can be readily provided to users from academia, health and agriculture authorities, and the bio-industry. Pathogenic material is provided to risk group 2, selected risk group 3 organisms are available from a few mBRCs. In addition MIRRI-ERIC offers unrivalled expertise in the integrated analysis of complex microbial interactions, ranging from the isolation of a specimen from the environment to the description of novel species, deciphering the genomic information and its path to gene expression. Targeted identification of genes of interest for biotechnological exploitation as well as analysis of ‘microbiomes’ make MIRRI-ERIC an interesting partner not only for academic researchers but also for industry and ‘personalized medicine’.

    Currently MIRRI-ERIC is under development, but basic services are already available. Full operability as well as the virtual entry point to all services will be achieved once the legal status is established.

    General contact

    Website: www.mirri.org

    Contact person(s): info(at)mirri.org

    Please note: Most of the RIs are constantly developing their portfolio of services, so if you do not find the service/tool you are looking for, do not hesitate to contact the RI and ask for it!

    This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 654248 and from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme under grant agreement number 824087.