A new RNA Focus Group has been formed that brings together experts from across ELIXIR to improve standards and benchmarking for RNA data.
The group aims to promote interoperability, quality control and collaborative standard development, and will support ELIXIR Platforms and Communities in using and sharing RNA data, in particular the Systems Biology, Biodiversity, Single-cell Omics and Microbiome Communities.
The field of transcriptomics is changing fast, driven by next-generation RNA sequencing and the growing impact of RNA-based therapies. Methods are developing rapidly, but the development of shared standards, benchmarks and best practices has not kept pace, creating challenges in data formats, benchmarking and annotation.
In addition to developing common standards and advancing benchmarking frameworks, the group will track emerging sequencing and analysis technologies, and improve annotation support and ontology development. Earlier this month, a selection of group members worked on a long-read transcriptomics benchmarking project at the ELIXIR BioHackathon Europe 2025 in Berlin.
The Group is led by Ana Victoria Conesa Cegarra (ELIXIR Spain), Wilfried Haerty (ELIXIR UK), Ernesto Picardi (ELIXIR Italy) with support from David Lloyd (ELIXIR Hub).