Jean-Emmanuel Faure European Commission, DG Research and Innovation

Unit B3 - Research Infrastructures

With input from DG Information Society and Media Unit F3 - GÉANT & e-Infrastructure

Research Infrastructures An overview of FP7 support in the domain of

Life Sciences

Brussels, January 20, 2012

Objectives

Present an overview of the FP7 action for research infrastructures in the domain of Life Sciences

Illustrate the impact of the action in this domain

Identify lessons learnt and future challenges

Imaging facilities

Bioinformatics resources

Genomics and

Proteomics

facilities

Biological Resource

Centres

Medical research facilities

Examples of RIs in the domain of Life Sciences

Food and agriculture research facilities

A scientific revolution

The rise of molecular biology

DNA structure discovery in 1953, Nobel prize in 1962

Molecular biology technologies in every life science laboratory since the beginning of the 90s

First human genome sequence completed in 2003: ~ € 2.3 Billion; today: ~ € 8000

The move towards systems biology

Large scale experiments, e.g. Human Proteome Project

Integration of technologies and data

Challenges for computing and simulation

The data challenge

Data at EMBL-EBI are reaching ~14 PB, doubling every 5 months (CERN LHC generates ~15 PB/year)

New types of data: Images, 4D

The European research landscape

About 500 000 Life Scientists

Total of 2.1 Million researchers (in head-count) in the EU in 2009 (1.5 Million in full time equivalent)

22.5 % of doctoral candidates in “Health and Welfare” and “Agriculture and veterinary” (ISCED6 in 2009)

Research infrastructures for Life Sciences

An ecosystem of facilities and resources, from a local to worldwide dimension

An important role for European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL, 1978)

12 infrastructures identified by ESFRI in its roadmap

e-infrastructures for e-Science addressing the emergence of new research methods

ESFRI - Life Sciences Imaging facilities

• EUROBIOIMAGING – Imaging facilities

Biological Resource Centres

• BBMRI - Biobanks and Biomolecular Resources

• EMBRC - Marine biology resources

• EU-OPENSCREEN - Chemical libraries

• INFRAFRONTIER - Mouse archives and clinics

• MIRRI – Microbial resources

Genomics and proteomics facilities

• INSTRUCT - Structural biology facilities

Bioinformatics resources

• ELIXIR – Data repositories

• ISBE – Infrastructure for systems biology

Medical research facilities

• EATRIS - Translational research facilities

• ECRIN - Clinical trial plateform

• ERINHA - High-security labs

Legend: Red: Preparatory Phase project Green: e-infrastructure project

Blue: Integrating Activity project Black: Other

Bioinformatics resources ELIXIR, SLING, IMPACT, BioMedBridges

FP7 projects for Life Sciences

Medical research facilities ERINHA, EATRIS, ECRIN,

ECRIN-IA, Transvac, ULICE

Genomics and proteomics research facilities INSTRUCT, Bio-NMR, East-NMR, Pcube, BioStruct-X,

ESGI, Prime-XS, eNMR, WeNMR, ERA-Instruments

Food and agriculture

research facilities NADIR, AQUAEXCEL, EPPN,

Trees4Future, transPLANT, ERIN

Biological Resource Centres BBMRI, EMBRC, EU-Openscreen, INFRAFRONTIER EMMAservices, EMBaRC,

EVA, Infravec, EUPRIMnet-II, Assemble, InfraComp

Imaging facilities Euro-BioImaging, neuGRID, outGRID, DECIDE, N4U

(42 projects, ~ 231 M€ of EU funding)

FP7 offered an opportunity to very significantly broaden the thematic coverage of infrastructures for the Life Sciences, including Agriculture

The vast majority of funded FP7 projects correspond to priorities as expressed in several national roadmaps for infrastructures

Still, several categories of infrastructures are not covered by FP7 projects

Plant genetic resources, experimental farms, food analysis facilities, transcriptomics facilities, metabolomics facilities, GMP facilities for therapy, etc.

Thematic coverage

Contribution to societal challenges

A vast majority of FP7 infrastructures offer services to multiple Life Sciences disciplines

All funded FP7 infrastructures for Life Sciences, including e-infrastructures, do contribute to addressing societal challenges

Health, demographic change and wellbeing

Food security, sustainable agriculture, marine and maritime research, and the bio-economy

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Beginning

of FP7, and

first ESFRI

Roadmap

End

of FP7 EMbaRC MIRRI

EMBRC ASSEMBLE

INFRAFRONTIER

EMMAservices

EMMAinf

INSTRUCT BioStruct-X

Bio-NMR EU-NMR WeNMR East-NMR eNMR

ELIXIR

SLING FELICS IMPACT

BBMRI

EATRIS

EU-Openscreen

EUROBIOIMAGING

neuGRID outGRID N4U

DECIDE

ISBE ERASysBio ERASysBio+

ECRIN ECRIN-IA ECRIN-RKP ECRIN-TWG

ERINHA ENP4Lab Euronet P4

Legend: Red: Preparatory Phase

Blue: Integrating Activity

Green: e-infrastructure

Black: Other

2/3 of the infrastructures identified by ESFRI were previously supported by FP projects

The Framework Programme offered an opportunity for infrastructure communities to get structured

Structuring impact

GERD (B€, 2009)

>25

10-25

5-10

<5

Access to Life Sciences RIs

4 8

26

27

23

4

11 1

11 3

4

3

7 7

3

12

2

2 1 5

2

FP7: 169 RIs

Third countries: 1 2

0

0 0

0

0

0

0

0

0

FP6: 16 RIs

0 2 5

0

0 1

0

0 3

0 0

0

1

0

0

2 1

0 0

Third countries: 0

0

1

0

0

0 0

0

0

0

0

0

0

FP7 offered an opportunity to very significantly broaden the geographic coverage of infrastructures offering access

There still exists a predominance of infrastructures operated in FR, DE and UK, however correlated to their domestic expenditure on R&D

Geographic coverage

Under FP6: 3 700 hands-on users, >100 000 web-based users

Under FP7: ~13 000 estimated hands-on users, >100 000 web-based users

The users

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Impact (examples from projects)

Excellent and innovative research based on access funding

Drought resistance: Structure of the plant receptor for abscisic acid published in 2009 in Nature 462:665-668 (PCUBE)

Training of users

More than 500 users across Europe trained to bioinformatics services (SLING)

Development of unified services

Distributed EMMA repository with 2200 mouse strains, and one single entry point (EMMAservices)

Development of virtual services

A virtual laboratory where to analyze image databases on persons with neurodegenerative diseases (N4U)

Sharing best practices

Handbook, DVD and more than 30 courses for personnel working with non-human primates (EUPRIM-Net)

Impact (examples from projects)

Development of common standards and interoperability

Towards a unique global infrastructure (EU, USA,CA) for neuro-images (outGRID)

Development of innovative prototypes and methods

A tracking system prototype for 4D ion radiotherapy (ULICE)

Impact (examples from projects)

Joint Programming Initiatives

JPIs will be important users of research infrastructures

First meeting between ESFRI projects and JPIs organised on 23 June 2011

Future Emerging Technologies flagship initiatives

FET flagships will likely be users and developers of research infrastructures

Series of interservice meetings for analysing the links between the 6 FET flagship pilots and research infrastructures

Links with other initiatives

Conclusions from FP7

A leading role for supporting, structuring and integrating European research infrastructures, and thus for building the ERA

A trigger for longer-term cooperation

A broad scientific coverage

A broad geographic coverage

An increased and facilitated access

Not all fields of Life Sciences could benefit from FP7 support for infrastructure integration

Some future challenges/improvements

Stabilise and reinforce cooperation efforts

Address thematic gaps

Address properly the data challenge; consolidate the complementarity between DG RTD and DG INFSO, and between e-IRG and ESFRI

Reinforce cooperation with other actions to better respond to grand challenges

Develop these European infrastructures in an international context

Better measure and communicate the impact of the programme

FP 7 Research Infrastructure in Life Sciences I

• ASSEMBLE : Association of European Marine Biological Laboratories; Project reference : 227799

Web site: http://www.assemblemarine.org/

• Bio-NMR: NMR for Structural Biology; Project reference : 261863 Web site: http://www.bio-nmr.net/

• EAST-NMR : Enhancing Access and Services to East European users Towards an efficient and coordinated pan-European pool of NMR capacities to enable global collaborative research and boost technological advancements ; Project reference : 228461 Web site http://www.east-nmr.eu/

• EMbaRC: European Consortium of Microbial Resource Centres ; Project reference : 228310 Web site: http://www.embarc.eu/

• EMMAservice : Servicing the European biomedical research community: archiving and dissemination of mouse models of human disease ; Project reference : 227490 Web site: http://www.emmanet.org/

• ESGI: European Sequencing and Genotyping Infrastructure; Project reference : 262055 Web site: http://www.esgi-infrastructure.eu/

• EUPRIM-Net II : European Primate Network: Advancing 3Rs and International Standards in Biological and Biomedical Research; Project reference : 262443

Web site: http://www.euprim-net.eu/

• PRIME-XS : Proteomics Research Infrastructure Maximising knowledge EXchange and acceS; Project reference : 262067

Web site: http://primexs.eu/

• EVA : European Virus Archive; Project reference : 228292

Web site: http://www.european-virus-archive.com/

• INFRAVEC : Research capacity for the implementation of genetic control of mosquitoes; Project reference : 228421

Web site: http://www.infravec.eu/

• NADIR: Network of Animal Disease Infectiology Research Facilities; Project reference : 228394

Web site: http://www.nadir-project.eu/nadir_project/

• PCUBE : Infrastructure for Protein Production Platforms; Project reference : 227764

Web site: http://www.p-cube.eu/

• SLING : Serving Life-science Information for the Next Generation; Project reference : 226073

Web site: http://www.sling-fp7.org/

• TRANSVAC : European network of vaccine research and development; Project reference : 228403

Web site: http://www.transvac.org/

• ULICE : Union of Light Ions Centres in Europe; Project reference : 228436

Web site: http://ulice.web.cern.ch/ulice/cms/index.php?file=home

FP 7 Research Infrastructure in Life Sciences II

• Transnational Access (TA):to sponsor new opportunities for research teams (including individual researchers) to obtain access to individual major research infrastructures most appropriate for their work. Community financing will cover the necessary operating costs of providing access to such infrastructures.

Users for Research Infrastructure in Life Sciences

How to become TA user

• The Transnational Access program that offers access to different research stations in the RIs

• There are TA calls periodically open for projects to apply Transnational Access. The TA call and the application and selection procedure is published on the web site of the infrastructure

• Transnational Access (TA) offered by the research infrastructures includes:

· Free access for eligible user groups to research facilities and field

sites

· Support for travel and logistics

· Free access to information and data in the public domain held at

the infrastructures

• A large variety of research fields and topics is encouraged to apply for TA.