The European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), part of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), hosts many of the most widely used databases within the Life Science Research community. These databases can be broadly grouped into: (i) those responsible for archiving omics data types; (ii) those that build upon the archived data by processing and generating inferred knowledge. There is a complex data ecosystem, such that the different resources do not duplicate effort, ensure the data is FAIR, and facilitate the discovery of related data across the different resources. Key to the delivery of these resources is the linking of them with research programs, either within EMBL or more widely within the community. This ensures that the resources remain fit for purpose, as well as meeting the evolving demands of the communities they serve. In this presentation, I will illustrate how research outputs (tools and data) influence our data resources, as well as how we are adapting to the need to access larger volumes of data. Of particular note is the growing demand to connect different datatypes for the purpose of developing AI models, and how we are using different aspects of AI to enrich and deliver our resources.

Dr. Rob Finn heads the Genome Assembly and Annotation Section and is the lead of the Microbiome Informatics team at EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI). Rob is also co-lead on Ensembl, and while maintaining scientific oversight for the whole resource, part of his team responsible for the microbial divisions found in Ensembl. The Microbiome Informatics team also produces MGnify, a world leading resource for the functional and taxonomic analysis and archiving of microbiome derived sequence data. Complementing these biological resources, Rob has a small research team that develop algorithms for exploring microbial genomic diversity, as well as gaining deeper insights into the interaction between bacteria and phages.

e-Infrastructures are, by nature, invisible. It’s therefore difficult to understand the crucial role e-infrastructures play for research and education nationally, on a European level and globally. This talk will be a behind the scenes tour of GÉANT, Europe’s  indispensable e-infrastructure for research and education. The talk will show you our European and global network reach and capacities. It will explain how over the last 30 years, we have led the growing community of interconnected national research and education networks world-wide and have achieved a harmonious global service environment through global federations. The talk will also show why GÉANT matters to Europe’s digital leadership role and the role we play for research infrastructures, EuroHPC and the entire EOSC environment.

Cathrin Stöver has belonged to the GÉANT team since 1997, holding various positions as the organisation has grown and developed, always with a specific focus on growing the geographic reach of the GÉANT network and the deepening of the global R&E collaboration for the benefit of the global research and education community. Following the minor reorganisation at the beginning of 2020, Cathrin now carries the overall responsibility for the Marketing Communications and Design teams and additionally the EU Liaison Team as Chief Communications Officer.