Systems Biology in ELIXIR: modelling in the spotlight

Area of Science:

• Systems Biology
• Bioinformatics Infrastructure
• Computational Biology

Background:

• ELIXIR is establishing new communities to enhance biological research infrastructure.
• Systems biology requires robust infrastructure for data, tools, and training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To outline the establishment of the ELIXIR Systems Biology Community.
• To define the community's proposed contributions to ELIXIR and the wider systems biology field.
• To identify key areas and objectives for the community's future activities.

Main Methods:

• Founding of the ELIXIR Systems Biology Community.
• Series of meetings to identify key activity areas.
• Identification of objectives grouped into headline areas and timelines.

Main Results:

• Seven key areas for future activities were identified: overcoming barriers, data linking, resource interoperability, systems medicine development, modeling as a service, capacity building, and industrial embedding.
• Objectives were defined under Standardisation and Interoperability, Technology, Capacity Building and Training, and Industrial Embedding.
• Short-term (3-year), mid-term (6-year), and long-term (10-year) objectives were established.

Conclusions:

• The ELIXIR Systems Biology Community is crucial for advancing systems biology infrastructure in Europe.
• The community's focus on data, tools, standards, training, and cloud access will support advanced biological applications and personalized medicine.
• A clear set of objectives and timelines will guide the community's contributions to ELIXIR and the global systems biology landscape.