ELIXIR-UK, the UK Node in ELIXIR, has completed a reorganisation to better represent the activities of the UK bioinformatics community within ELIXIR and to bring the benefit of participation to a wider range of UK institutions. ELIXIR-UK has extended its remit from its original training brief to now provide data, tools and interoperability services within ELIXIR. It has added three specialist training centres at Birmingham and Cambridge University and the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh to its training portfolio and incorporated interoperability services from the Universities of Oxford (BioSharing and ISA Commons) and Cambridge (InterMine).
Its new Data and Tools resources fall under four categories: Protein Structure and Function (Imperial College, UCL and Dundee University), Expression Atlases (Edinburgh, Heriot Watt and Newcastle Universities), Human Health and Disease (Edinburgh University), and Farmed Animal and Plants (Rothamsted Research and The Roslin Institute). These areas reflect strengths and priorities within the UK. Fuller details on the new Node portfolio can be found on the recently updated ELIXIR-UK web site.
The new composition of ELIXIR-UK was determined by an open and transparent process set up by the Node and was undertaken throughout 2015-2016. The review process brought in external experts to evaluate Expressions of Interest to join the Node, which were either added to the Node immediately or placed on a roadmap for future inclusion. ELIXIR-UK expects to continue this process to include more resources in future. ELIXIR’s SAB reviewed the updated Node application during its summer meeting and welcomed the expansion of the Node and the inclusion of new services. The ELIXIR Board approved the revised ELIXIR-UK remit during its November 2016 meeting.
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