Weekly Brief, 7 April 2025

This week's highlights

Join 2025 ELIXIR All Hands virtually

The spaces for 2025 ELIXIR All Hands in person participation are now full. People wish to join All Hands this year can still register for virtual participation. Please see the website for the details of the hybrid sessions and streamed sessions.

Virtual option registration link
Event website

Reminder: BioHackathon Europe 2025 call for project proposals

Deadline: 14 April 2025 at midnight


The BioHackathon Europe brings together bioinformaticians from around the world offering an intense week of hacking on diverse and exciting projects.
Submit your project proposals by Oxford Abstract ahead of the deadline.

Find out more and submit

Recommended reads

Empowering cancer research in Europe: the EUCAIM cancer imaging infrastructure

An EUCAIM paper


The European Cancer Imaging Initiative is a flagship of Europes Beating Cancer Plan, aiming to unlock the power of AI for cancer patients, clinicians, and researchers by establishing a federated European infrastructure for cancer images through the EU-funded EUropean Federation for CAncer IMages (EUCAIM) project. In summer 2024, the EUCAIM project released the first prototype of an EU-wide infrastructure, with a comprehensive dashboard integrating applications for dataset discovery, federated search, data access request, metadata harvesting, annotation, secure processing environments and federated processing.


Read more

ibaqpy: A scalable Python package for baseline quantification in proteomics leveraging SDRF metadata

An ELIXIR Germany preprint


Intensity-based absolute quantification (iBAQ) is essential in proteomics as it allows for the assessment of a proteins absolute abundance in various samples or conditions. The authors present ibaqpy, a Python package designed to compute iBAQ values efficiently for experiments of any scale. ibaqpy leverages the Sample and Data Relationship Format metadata standard to incorporate experimental metadata into the quantification workflow. This allows for automatic normalisation and batch correction while accounting for key aspects of the experimental design, such as technical and biological replicates, fractionation strategies and sample conditions.

Read more

Updates from Nodes

 

EMBL-EBIs 2024 Highlights report

Explore EMBL-EBIs latest achievements and how bioinformatics is enabling new solutions for disease research, AI, agri-tech and biodiversity.

Read the report

 

X-omics workshop about the FAIR Data Cube (in person)

9 April 2025 | 9:00-13:00 CEST

The FAIR Data Cube (FDCube) is an open-source infrastructure developed by the Netherlands X-omics initiative, designed to make -omics data FAIR at the source, promote data reuse and integrate various layers of -omics data.

Register now

 

Save the date: 2025 DataSHIELD Conference

23-26 September 2025 | Lausanne, Switzerland

SIB will be hosting the 2025 DataSHIELD Conference in Lausanne, Switzerland on 23-26 September 2025. The programme includes beginner and advanced training workshops, talks, demonstrations, and discussions.

More information

SIB helps create most complete, accurate resource for human gene functions

The new PAN-GO resource used evolutionary modelling co-developed by SIB scientists to assign known functions to over 20,000 human genes. The work involved more than 150 biologists contributing to the international Gene Ontology Consortium, and is published in the journal Nature.

Read the news

Updates from Commissioned Services

 

FAIRyMAGs hybrid hackathon 2025: Optimising Metagenomics Assembled Genomes building

6-9 October | Hybrid - Freiburg, Germany


The FAIRyMAGs project within the ELIXIR BFSP Programme is inviting the community to a four-day hackathon in Freiburg or online to collaborate on improving Metagenomics Assembled Genomes (MAG) workflows.

More information and registration

Updates from Platforms

 

ELIXIR-GOBLET Train-the-Trainer course

29-30 May 2025 | Thessaloniki, Greece

This course introduces trainers in the life sciences to learning principles, training techniques, lessons, sessions, courses and material design as well as assessment and feedback. It offers guidance, ideas and tips for designing training/teaching, development and delivery of training activities, all based on research-driven educational principles.

More information and registration

Updates from Focus Groups

 

ELIXIR Communities Future Focus Group kick-off workshop

30 April 2025 | 14:00-16:00 CEST | Online

ELIXIR is launching the Communities Future Focus Group. The Focus Group kick-off workshop will be held on 30 April to present the planned activities and start to capture participants' input, thoughts, reflections and wishes with regard to ELIXIR Communities and their future.

More about the Focus Group
Register to join the kick-off workshop

Updates from other initiatives

 

EVERSE webinar: Building the landscape of software quality and defining software quality indicators

15 April 2025 | 10:00-11:00 CEST

To gather the very different approaches to software quality and define the landscape of software quality within the EVERSE communities, a first landscaping survey was conducted and a first set of indicators collected. In this webinar, the speakers will present the status of this activity.

More information and registration

 

Euro-BioImaging and partners launch the project FAIR Image Analysis Across Sciences with OSCARS support


Euro-BioImaging, alongside SimulaEPFL and the University of Bergen, announces the launch of FAIR Image Analysis Across Sciences, an initiative supported by the OSCARS project. Selected through OSCARS' first open call, this project aims to break down disciplinary barriers in image analysis by developing robust, reusable, and interoperable workflows that align with the FAIR principles.

Read the news

 

FAIR Implementation Workshop
What is a Data Champion and how can they support good practice in data management and sharing?

16 April 2025 | 11:00-12:30 CEST


This webinar explores the definition, qualities, roles, and responsibilities of a data champion. The speakers will examine the potential motivations, incentives, and sustainability of setting up data champion programmes and ook at the relationship between data champions and professional services and repository staff.

Register now

Upcoming ELIXIR events & webinars

ELIXIR Training Courses & Webinars

The ELIXIR TeSS portal has a variety of interesting events and courses organised by the ELIXIR Nodes. For more, visit TeSS portal

 

SIB course: Introduction to Bayesian statistics with R
5-6 May 2025 | Basel, Switzerland


SIB course: Introduction to metagenomics data analysis of microbial communities
7-9 May 2025 | Fribourg, Switzerland

SIB course: Gene expression made useful easily: tools and database of Bgee
16 May 2025 | Online


Summer school machine learning and AI
24-29 August 2025 | Geetbets, Belgium

ELIXIR Events and Conferences

ELIXIR Microbiome Community F2F/hybrid meeting
9-10 April 2025 | Hybrid - Barcelona, Spain

ELIXIR Biodiversity Community F2F/hybrid meeting
10-11 April 2025 | Hybrid - Barcelona, Spain

ELIXIR All Hands 2025
2-5 June 2025 | Thessaloniki, Greece

ELIXIR Bioinformatics Industry Forum (EBIF) 2025
17 June 2025 | London, UK

Job vacancies

All vacancies are also published on the ELIXIR website (also including those from industry). If you need our help communicating your new open positions, you can submit a job advertisement and it will automatically appear on our newsletters. Go to our vacancy page to submit a job

 

Ph.D. student in RNA bioinformatics

Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg

Senior Researcher in Bioinformatics at Medical Bioinformatics Centre Core Facility

Medical Bioinformatics Centre, Turku Bioscience, University of Turku

Post-doctoral Research Fellow Level 1

University College Dublin

Senior researcher/Project specialist at Medical Bioinformatics Centre core facility, single-cell data analysis

Medical Bioinformatics Centre, Turku Bioscience, University of Turku