Dear NFDI4Microbiota community,
We are looking back on a very successful year 2024. You have parts in the success of the consortium in 2024, e.g. as participants in our trainings and events in 2024.
Some of you we have met during these events and our NFDI4Microbiota conference two weeks ago. It was a pleasure to work with you in 2024 and we hope to work even closer with you in 2025.
In the beginning of 2025 we will announce our big events and new training dates planned for 2025.
Until then, we wish you happy holidays and a happy new year 2025!
[cid:image002.jpg@01DB51FE.FFF04100]
Kind regards,
Barbara Götz
---
Barbara Götz, M.Sc. Microbiology
Project manager NFDI4Microbiota
E-Mail: goetz(a)zbmed.de<mailto:goetz@zbmed.de>
Tel.: +49 0221 999 892 513
Webportal: www.nfdi4microbiota.de<http://www.nfdi4microbiota.de/>
Mastodon: nfdi.social/@NFDI4Microbiota<https://nfdi.social/@NFDI4Microbiota>
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/nfdi4microbiota/<https://www.linkedin.com/company/nfdi4microbiota/>
ZB MED - Informationszentrum Lebenswissenschaften
Gleueler Straße 60
50931 Köln
www.zbmed.de<http://www.zbmed.de/>
INFORMATION. WISSEN. LEBEN.
Dear all,
We are excited to invite you to the final NFDI4Microbiota Coffee Talk of 2024!
Metadata and Research Data Management for Metaproteomics
Speaker: Kay Schallert (ISAS)
Metaproteomics uses LC-MS/MS to investigate microbial communities, producing large and complex data sets, where recording of important metadata - as so often - is neglected. This presentation will detail efforts to improve metadata acquisition using research data management for improved collection of metadata and the tool MetaForge<https://mdoa-tools.bi.denbi.de/metaforge_test/home> for streamlined metadata annotation of whole projects.
📅 Date: 16 December 2024
⏰ Time: 14:30 – 15:30 CET
💻 Location: https://helmholtz-hzi-de.zoom-x.de/j/63366496382?pwd=Q2J2SHcyNEFLT05hQS81UU…
Meeting ID: 633 6649 6382
Passcode: 203545
Should you have any questions or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Best regards,
Mattea Müller
Dr. Mattea Müller
Project Manager
Computational Biology for Infection Research
Head of Department: Prof. Alice McHardy
Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research GmbH
Inhoffenstrasse 7
38124 Braunschweig
Germany
________________________________
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung GmbH | Inhoffenstraße 7 | 38124 Braunschweig | www.helmholtz-hzi.de
Vorsitzende des Aufsichtsrates: Frau MinDir'in Prof. Dr. Veronika von Messling, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
Stellvertreter: MinDirig Rüdiger Eichel, Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur
Wissenschaftlicher Geschäftsführer: Prof. Dr. Josef Penninger - Administrativer Geschäftsführer: Christian Scherf
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH)
Sitz der Gesellschaft: Braunschweig
Handelsregister: Amtsgericht Braunschweig, HRB 477
Unsere Hinweise zum Datenschutz finden Sie hier: https://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/de/service/datenschutz/
Dear all,
This is a friendly reminder that registration for the 3rd NFDI4Microbiota Annual Conference is still open, and it’s free of charge! Don’t miss this opportunity to join us for an exciting program featuring NFDI4Microbiota services, keynotes, and panel discussions on the cultural shift to FAIR and Open Science. We will also highlight research from our community through poster sessions and provide hands-on workshops, a software marketplace, and data steward consultations.
Event Details:
3rd NFDI4Microbiota Annual Conference - Services for the Community
Dates: December 4-5, 2024
Location: KUBUS, Leipzig
Important Deadline:
* Registration and Abstract Submission: Closes on October 31, 2024
Note: NFDI4Microbiota Ambassadors and Participants are eligible for travel and hotel reimbursements.
For more information on the agenda and to register, please visit: https://events.hifis.net/e/NFDI4Microbiota-conference2024
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. We look forward to your participation and hope to see you in Leipzig!
Best regards,
The NFDI4Microbiota Conference Team
Mattea Müller, Barbara Goetz, Cordula Hege, and Stephanie Aue
Dr. Mattea Müller
Project Manager
Computational Biology for Infection Research
Head of Department: Prof. Alice McHardy
Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research GmbH
Inhoffenstrasse 7
38124 Braunschweig
Germany
________________________________
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung GmbH | Inhoffenstraße 7 | 38124 Braunschweig | www.helmholtz-hzi.de
Vorsitzende des Aufsichtsrates: Frau MinDir'in Prof. Dr. Veronika von Messling, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
Stellvertreter: MinDirig Rüdiger Eichel, Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur
Wissenschaftlicher Geschäftsführer: Prof. Dr. Josef Penninger - Administrativer Geschäftsführer: Christian Scherf
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH)
Sitz der Gesellschaft: Braunschweig
Handelsregister: Amtsgericht Braunschweig, HRB 477
Unsere Hinweise zum Datenschutz finden Sie hier: https://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/de/service/datenschutz/
Dear Ambassadors, Members, Participants, and Community,
We are excited to invite you to our next NFDI4Microbiota Coffee Talk on 28 October!
This session will host Ulisses da Rocha, Junior Group Leader at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ, Leipzig, Germany).
Talk Title: Microbe Data Drama: Share and Standardize, or Stagnate!
Ulisses leads the Microbial Data Science group at UFZ, where they explore the intersection of Microbial Ecology, Modeling, Microbial Physiology, and Bioinformatics through a Systems Biology approach. Join us to hear his insights on the challenges and opportunities in microbial data sharing and standardization.
When?
Date: Monday, 28 October
Time: 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM CEST.
Where?
Online on Zoom
https://helmholtz-hzi-de.zoom-x.de/j/63366496382?pwd=Q2J2SHcyNEFLT05hQS81UU…
Meeting ID: 633 6649 6382
Password: 490003
We look forward to seeing you online for an engaging discussion! Please feel free to share this invitation with colleagues who may be interested.
Best regards,
Mattea Müller
NFDI4Microbiota Team
Dr. Mattea Müller
Project Manager
Computational Biology for Infection Research
Head of Department: Prof. Alice McHardy
Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research GmbH
Inhoffenstrasse 7
38124 Braunschweig
Germany
________________________________
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung GmbH | Inhoffenstraße 7 | 38124 Braunschweig | www.helmholtz-hzi.de
Vorsitzende des Aufsichtsrates: Frau MinDir'in Prof. Dr. Veronika von Messling, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
Stellvertreter: MinDirig Rüdiger Eichel, Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur
Wissenschaftlicher Geschäftsführer: Prof. Dr. Josef Penninger - Administrativer Geschäftsführer: Christian Scherf
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH)
Sitz der Gesellschaft: Braunschweig
Handelsregister: Amtsgericht Braunschweig, HRB 477
Unsere Hinweise zum Datenschutz finden Sie hier: https://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/de/service/datenschutz/
Newsletter Quarter 4 2024
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/eighthnewsletter/icon_news…]
Dear Reader,
With our ninth NFDI4Microbiota newsletter, we would like to share news about conferences, training courses, services and cooperations. If you can think of other topics that we should cover, please let us know. We are happy to hear from you!<https://nfdi4microbiota.de/contact-form/>
And now: Enjoy reading the newsletter!
Community Engagement
Events and Conferences
________________________________
Performing ancient metagenomics at SPAAM summer school
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/ninthnewsletter/Spaam_800p…]
The online SPAAM summer school (August 5-9) introduced essential steps to perform ancient metagenomics, including how to process next-generation assembly and how to perform de novo metagenomic assembly. The online event had a lovely design like a little RPG, in which you actual had to walk to the seminar rooms with your avatar, as shown in the picture above.
Integrated into the summer school Konrad Förstner, Hesham Almessady and Justine Vandendorpe each delivered a 15 minute talk on August 8. First, Konrad Förstner introduced NFDI4Microbiota. Subsequently, Hesham presented relevant workflows and services such as CAMI (critical assessment of metagenome interpretation) benchmarking and CloWM (Cloud online workflow manager). Lastly, Justine introduced electronic lab notebooks (ELN), including the advantages of ELN and examples. The talks were well received, attracted over 45 attendees, and generated significant interest.
Successful Knwoledge Base Coding Sprint on September 11-13, 2024
In our recent three-day coding sprint we continued to develop the NFDI4Microbiota knowledge base. New and experienced contributors collaborated to improve the platform, demonstrating the power of open collaboration.
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/ninthnewsletter/sprint_800…]
There were 23 active pull requests, as the Sprint started, and seven contributors merged 21 of them. From 38 issues we closed 28, including fixes for broken links, formatting, and tracking key performance and nine authors made 264 commits. Finally yet importantly, we updated 55 files and 1,928 lines of code, which added notable improvements including better documentation, enhanced internal linking, and a more user-friendly design. In addition, major updates to experimental SOPs ensure a more reliable resource for researchers. The sprint strengthened both the platform and community, setting the stage for future progress. Thanks to all that contributed during the four sessions.
Community Engagement
Upcoming Events and Conferences
________________________________
Join us at the 3rd NFDI4Microbiota annual conference in Leipzig on December 4-5, 2024
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/ninthnewsletter/annual_con…]
Do you want to take your knowledge about FAIR and Open Data to the next level? Are you interested in learning something new in interesting Hands-on Workshops? Do you want to gain insights on the work of our consortium, NFDI4Microbiota?
Yes? In this case join the NFDI4Microbiota Annual Conference!
On two days, we are divníng deep into the main topics of NFDI4Microbiota:
* The services we offer to support you in YOUR research cycle
* How to make YOUR research data FAIR and Open
The Conference will take place in the KUBUS (UFZ) Leippzig from December 4th to 5th.
There will be Poster Sessions on each day with additional services, such as a software marketplace and Data Steward consultation. The days are starting with interesting keynotes, followed by a comprehensive overview on the services, we offer on day one and an exciting panel discussion about encouraging Cultural Change to FAIR and Open Data on day two. The afternoons are filled with said poster sessions and Hands-on Workshops on different related topics, such as “Basics in Research Data Management”, Workflows for Microbiological Data” and “First steps towards FAIR (meta)data descriptions, ontology terms and data deposition.
You can find the complete timetable here on the registration site.<https://events.hifis.net/e/NFDI4Microbiota-conference2024>
Meet your peers at the CarpentryConnect Heidelberg 2024
Following the CarpentryConnect Manchester 2019, this year’s community event takes place in Heidelberg, Germany, from November 12th-14th.
The CarpentryConnect Heidelberg 2024 (CCHD2024) will feature a diverse range of sessions, such as breakouts, posters, lightning talks, workshops and curriculum co-working sessions, all centred around the Theme: “Community-led training beyond academia.” NFDI4Microbiota sponsors the event and we invite our fellow Carpentries to join: https://biont-training.eu/CarpentryConnect2024.html.
Never heard about The Carpentries<https://carpentries.org/about/> communtiy? The project compromises the Software Carpentry, Data Carpentry, and Library carpentry communities of Instructors, Trainers, Maintainers, helpers, and supporters who share a mission to teach foundational computational and data science skills to researcher. It builds global capacity in essential data and computational skills for conducting efficient, open, and reproducible research.
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/ninthnewsletter/n4m_ambass… the ambassador meetings
Do you know our Ambassador Program? The mission of the NFDI4Microbiota consortium is to serve as the central hub in Germany, providing essential support to the microbiology community by facilitating access to data, analysis services, data/meta-data standards, and training. To fulfill this mission, we are running the NFDI4Microbiota Ambassador Program, dedicated to connecting and training (early career) researchers within the microbiology community.
As part of our commitment, we aim to assist young scientists in expanding their research networks and disseminating knowledge on data handling, metadata standards, standardized bioinformatic workflows and further related topics. Join us in our ambassador program for networking and spreading FAIR principles and openness in microbiome research!
For our Ambassadors, we host bimonthly ambassador meetings with interesting topics. The next meeting will take place on November 25th, starting at 14:30 CEST. Kassian Kobert of the University Bielefeld will tell us about the NFDI4Microbiota Knowledge Base and how you can contribute. Get more information about the program here.<https://nfdi4microbiota.de/community/ambassador.html>
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/ninthnewsletter/coffee_tal…]
Take a break and join our Coffee Talks
The Coffee Talk meetings provide an opportunity to learn more about NFDI4Microbiota’s services and mission from within and around the NFD4Microbiota community. These bimonthly meetings take place online and are open to all who are interested in staying informed about current developments and topics related to data in microbiology research.
The next Coffee Talk will take place on October 28th. Ulisses da Rocha from Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) will talk about Metadata standards in connection with data quality. Get more information on the topics and the schedule here.<https://nfdi4microbiota.de/newsroom/news/2024-04-26-nfdi4microbiota-coffee-…>
Services
________________________________
2025 Flex Funds call closed!
Thank you to all of you who participated in our 2025 Flex Funds call. We received many exciting proposals and are now busy reviewing them. We will announce the new Flex Funds projects in one of our next newsletters.
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/ninthnewsletter/provenance…]
Introducing the New Provenance Guidelines for Workflow Developers
The Task Area 3.4 of NFDI4Microbiota is pleased to announce the release of our Provenance Guidelines for Workflow Developers.<https://zenodo.org/records/13627510> These guidelines are designed to support new and experienced developers in creating bioinformatics workflows that prioritize provenance tracking, reproducibility, and transparency. By following these standards, developers can ensure that their workflows are scientifically robust, easily reproducible, and verifiable.
Why Provenance Matters
In bioinformatics, the ability to trace the origin and evolution of data within a workflow—known as provenance—is crucial. Provenance tracking ensures that every step of a workflow, from data acquisition to the final output, is documented and reproducible. This level of detail not only fosters scientific transparency but also facilitates the validation and replication of results by others in the community.
Key Components of the Guidelines
Our guidelines cover several critical areas:
* Improve Reproducibility: To enhance reproducability, we advise to pin all software versions and set random seeds.
* Version Management: Proper version control is essential for tracking changes over time. The guidelines emphasize the importance of managing and reporting versions of both the workflow and any associated software tools or libraries. Examples are given how the expected provenance output can be created.
* Data and Metadata Management: The guidelines outline best practices for managing inputs and outputs as well as metadata. Examples are given how the expected provenance output can be created.
* Detailed Documentation: Developers are encouraged to provide comprehensive documentation for every aspect of their workflows. This includes clear descriptions of inputs, outputs, and intermediate steps, as well as the rationale behind specific choices.
* Validation Practices: To guarantee that workflows produce reliable results, the guidelines recommend validation practices. These include testing workflows with different datasets and verifying that the outputs remain consistent and accurate.
Introducing the Provenance Scoring System
To encourage adherence to these guidelines and foster continuous improvement, we have introduced a Provenance Scoring System. This system assigns a rating to each workflow based on its compliance with the outlined standards, with the highest possible score being 100 provenance points.
Benefits of the Scoring System: This scoring system should serve as a benchmark for quality, providing developers with a clear understanding of where their workflows excel and where they may need improvement. For users, the score offers a reliable measure of a workflow’s reliability and reproducibility, helping them make informed decisions about which tools to use.
Get Involved
We encourage all developers to review these guidelines and consider how they can be integrated into their current and future projects.
We welcome your feedback on these guidelines as we aim to refine and improve them further.
Please send any comments or suggestions to klemmp(a)staff.uni-marburg.de<mailto:klemmp@staff.uni-marburg.de>.
New Template for your Data Management Plan published
You work with microbiological data and struggle with the data management? We got your back and developed a special “NFDI4Microbiota Edition” Data Management Plan (DMP) Template.
The PDF guides you with simple questions through the data management process. And once you gone through all of the questions, your DMP is finished. Check it out!<https://zenodo.org/records/13628589>
You tried the template and got feedback for us? Please get in touch via contact(a)nfdi4microbiota.de<mailto:contact@nfdi4microbiota.de>
Training Announcements
________________________________
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/ninthnewsletter/Isometric_…]
There are several interesting training offers currently open for registration, like:
* The NFDI4Microbiota and de.NBI 16S amplicon training course (Oct 8th-10th)
* Microbiota profiling by 16SrRNA gene amplicon sequencing: Data analysis Workshop (Oct 23rd)
* DSMZ Digital Diversity: How to efficiently access the data of BacDive, BRENDA, LPSN, SILVA and more (Nov 11th)
* Research data management: how to start and maintain a project (Nov 12th)
And more courses are planned. In November you can also get an “Introduction on Python”.
As soon as the registration opens, you will find it on the NFDI4Microbiota website.<https://nfdi4microbiota.de/services/trainings.html> More courses will be announced soon, so check the website regularly for training opportunities.
Previous Training
________________________________
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/ninthnewsletter/preservati…]
Exciting workshop initiated crucial dialogue
On September 3rd, 2024, NFDI4Microbiota hosted a digital workshop on long-term data preservation for life sciences, with a focus on maintaining the FAIRness of valuable research data over time. The workshop convened researchers, research data management (RDM) staff, and infrastructure providers to explore key questions around data selection, safety, reusability, and institutional responsibilities.
A highlight of the event was a presentation by the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), which outlined the massive scale of data they manage, their role in stewarding the data submission process, and ongoing challenges with metadata completeness that directly impact the long-term reusability of data.
The workshop also featured two hands-on interactive sessions:
· What to Preserve? The Participants discussed the criteria for selecting data to be preserved long-term. The session covered various aspects, including funder and institutional obligations, valuable data and reusability and standards.
· Who Preserves How? This session focused on the roles and responsibilities of institutions in the preservation process. Key discussion points included institutional policies, challenges and gaps and collaborative preservation.
In the end, the workshop initiated a crucial dialogue on aligning preservation strategies, managing institutional resources, and ensuring long-term data reusability in life sciences.
Cooperations
________________________________
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/ninthnewsletter/MoU_800px.…]
DataPLANT, NFDI4Biodiversity and NFDI4Microbiota intensify their collaboration as the Biodata Group
We signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the consortia DataPLANT and NFDI4Biodiversity. Our three NFDI-consortia will pool expertise, energies and technologies in order to provide the scientific community with even better support in managing and processing their biological data. The focus of the MoU is on the cross-consortium harmonization of research data management strategies. Learn more about this new cooperation in the news section of our website.<https://nfdi4microbiota.de/newsroom/news.html>
Recent Publications
________________________________
Interesting poster on CAMI web portal available
There is an interesting poster on benchmarking metagenomics software with the new CAMI web portal<https://zenodo.org/records/13136314> available on our NFDI4Microbiota Zenodo section.<https://zenodo.org/communities/nfdi4microbiota/records?q=&l=list&p=1&s=10&s…> Fernando Meyer, Gary Robertson and our co-speaker Alice McHardy created the poster and Fernando presented it at the 32nd Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB 2024). The poster introduces the new CAMI web portal, which allows users to assess software for common metagenome analyses using the CAMI benchmarking metrics. The community-led initiative for the Critical Assessment of Metagenome Interpretation (CAMI) promotes standards and good practices agreed upon the community.
Video publications on TIB AV-Portal
In addition to the written publications we provide on our website, we proudly present our very own NFDI4Microbiota channel on the TIB AV-Portal.<https://av.tib.eu/publisher/NFDI4Microbiota> There you can find recordings of talks given within the consortium, for example on topics like ELNs, workflows, our Use Cases and, of course, an introduction to NFDI4Microbiota. Some selected video publications you can also find directly in the new media center on our website.<https://nfdi4microbiota.de/newsroom/mediacenter.html>
Social Links and Contact
________________________________
This newsletter is brought to you by NFDI4Microbiota
Mail: contact(a)nfdi4microbiota.de<mailto:contact@nfdi4microbiota.de>
Web: www.nfdi4microbiota.de<https://www.nfdi4microbiota.de/>
If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, click here to unsubscribe.<https://lists.nfdi.de/postorius/lists/nfdi4microbiota-announce.lists.nfdi.d…>
Follow us
Mastodon<https://nfdi.social/@NFDI4Microbiota>
LinkedIn<https://www.linkedin.com/company/98488870/admin/feed/posts/>
BlueSky<https://bsky.app/profile/nfdi4microbiota.bsky.social>
GitHub<https://github.com/NFDI4Microbiota>
________________________________
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung GmbH | Inhoffenstraße 7 | 38124 Braunschweig | www.helmholtz-hzi.de
Vorsitzende des Aufsichtsrates: Frau MinDir'in Prof. Dr. Veronika von Messling, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
Stellvertreter: MinDirig Rüdiger Eichel, Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur
Wissenschaftlicher Geschäftsführer: Prof. Dr. Josef Penninger - Administrativer Geschäftsführer: Christian Scherf
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH)
Sitz der Gesellschaft: Braunschweig
Handelsregister: Amtsgericht Braunschweig, HRB 477
Unsere Hinweise zum Datenschutz finden Sie hier: https://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/de/service/datenschutz/
Dear all,
The abstract submission and registration deadlines for the 3rd NFDI4Microbiota Annual Conference have been extended to October 30, 2024.
This is a great opportunity to submit your abstracts and secure your spot at the conference, which will cover key topics such as NFDI4Microbiota services, keynotes, and panel discussions on the cultural shift to FAIR and Open Science. We will also showcase research from our community through poster sessions, along with hands-on workshops, a software marketplace, and data steward consultations.
Event Details:
* 3rd NFDI4Microbiota Annual Conference - Services for the Community
Dates: December 4-5, 2024
Location: KUBUS, Leipzig
For the updated agenda and to register, please visit: NFDI4Microbiota Annual Conference.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.
We look forward to receiving your abstracts and welcoming you to the conference in December!
Best regards,
The NFDI4Microbiota Conference Team
Mattea Müller, Barbara Goetz, Cordula Hege, and Stephanie Aue
Dr. Mattea Müller
Project Manager
Computational Biology for Infection Research
Head of Department: Prof. Alice McHardy
Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research GmbH
Inhoffenstrasse 7
38124 Braunschweig
Germany
________________________________
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung GmbH | Inhoffenstraße 7 | 38124 Braunschweig | www.helmholtz-hzi.de
Vorsitzende des Aufsichtsrates: Frau MinDir'in Prof. Dr. Veronika von Messling, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
Stellvertreter: MinDirig Rüdiger Eichel, Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur
Wissenschaftlicher Geschäftsführer: Prof. Dr. Josef Penninger - Administrativer Geschäftsführer: Christian Scherf
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH)
Sitz der Gesellschaft: Braunschweig
Handelsregister: Amtsgericht Braunschweig, HRB 477
Unsere Hinweise zum Datenschutz finden Sie hier: https://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/de/service/datenschutz/
Dear all,
We are excited to announce that registration for the 3rd NFDI4Microbiota Annual Conference is now open! The conference will cover key topics such as NFDI4Microbiota services, keynotes, and panel discussions on the cultural shift to FAIR and Open Science. Additionally, we will showcase research from our community through poster sessions and highlight our services with hands-on workshops, a software marketplace, and data steward consultations.
3rd NFDI4Microbiota Annual Conference - Services for the Community
Dates: December 4-5, 2024
Location: KUBUS, Leipzig
Abstract Submission is open until September 29, 2024. Registration for the conference and workshops closes on October 15, 2024. Notifications regarding abstract acceptance will be sent shortly after the submission deadline. NFDI4Microbiota Ambassadors <https://nfdi4microbiota.de/community/ambassador.html> are eligible for travel and hotel reimbursements.
For the agenda and to register, please visit NFDI4Microbiota Annual Conference 2024<https://events.hifis.net/event/1756/overview><https://events.hifis.net/event/1756/timetable/#20241204>
Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or need further information.
We look forward to your participation and to seeing you at the conference!
Best regards,
The NFDI4Microbiota Conference Team
Mattea Müller, Barbara Goetz, Cordula Hege, and Stephanie Aue
Dr. Mattea Müller
Project Manager
Computational Biology for Infection Research
Head of Department: Prof. Alice McHardy
Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research GmbH
Inhoffenstrasse 7
38124 Braunschweig
Germany
________________________________
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung GmbH | Inhoffenstraße 7 | 38124 Braunschweig | www.helmholtz-hzi.de
Vorsitzende des Aufsichtsrates: Frau MinDir'in Prof. Dr. Veronika von Messling, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
Stellvertreter: MinDirig Rüdiger Eichel, Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur
Wissenschaftlicher Geschäftsführer: Prof. Dr. Josef Penninger - Administrativer Geschäftsführer: Christian Scherf
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH)
Sitz der Gesellschaft: Braunschweig
Handelsregister: Amtsgericht Braunschweig, HRB 477
Unsere Hinweise zum Datenschutz finden Sie hier: https://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/de/service/datenschutz/
Dear NFDI4Microbiota community,
This is a friendly reminder that the deadline for the Flex Fund Call for Proposals is three weeks away. The call is open from June 10th to August 7th 2024.
What is the aim of the Flex Funds?
The NFDI4Microbiota consortium aims to realize the dynamic adaptation of services and support of further data types, development of new training programs, and improvement of the ability to react to unforeseen technical challenges. Therefore, within the NFDI4Microbiota project work, flexible funding (so called 'Flex Funds') for small projects within the research community are available for the years 2023 to 2026. To implement a dynamic system that stays on track with new trends in the field, the Flex Funds will support small projects from the community and active Use Cases.
What are eligible topics?
Eligible topics are as follows:
· Data Brokerage
· Workflow development
· Data storage and workflow execution
· Infrastructure/Services
· Training
· Community engagement and outreach
· Establishment of local data stewards
· Use Case connection or an active Use Case
· Deposition of high quality data sets in public repositories
Details on the eligible topics, further information on the call and the procedure can be found on the NFDI4Microbiota web portal<https://nfdi4microbiota.de/newsroom/flexfunds.html>.
While you're on the web portal, do not miss out to take a look at our newly listed services.
In case you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact us via contact(a)nfdi4microbiota.de<mailto:contact@nfdi4microbiota.de>.
We are looking forward to your application!
Kind regards,
The NFDI4Microbiota Adminsitration Unit
---
Barbara Götz, M.Sc. Microbiology
Project manager NFDI4Microbiota
E-Mail: goetz(a)zbmed.de<mailto:goetz@zbmed.de>
Tel.: +49 0221 999 892 513
Webportal: www.nfdi4microbiota.de<http://www.nfdi4microbiota.de/>
Mastodon: nfdi.social/@NFDI4Microbiota<https://nfdi.social/@NFDI4Microbiota>
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/nfdi4microbiota/<https://www.linkedin.com/company/nfdi4microbiota/>
ZB MED - Informationszentrum Lebenswissenschaften
Gleueler Straße 60
50931 Köln
www.zbmed.de<http://www.zbmed.de/>
INFORMATION. WISSEN. LEBEN.
Newsletter Quarter 3 2024
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/eighthnewsletter/icon_news…]
Dear Reader,
With our eighth NFDI4Microbiota newsletter, we would like to share news about conferences, training courses, cooperations and publications. If you can think of other topics that we should cover, please let us know. We are happy to hear from you!<https://nfdi4microbiota.de/contact-form/>
And now: Enjoy reading the newsletter!
Community Engagement
Events and Conferences
________________________________
NFDI4Microbiota joined the VAAM&DGHM conference in Würzburg from June 2nd to 5th
To engage and connect with the NFDI4Microbiota research community, members of our consortium attended the 7th joint Microbiology & Infection Conference of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM) and the Association of General and Applied Microbiology (VAAM) in Würzburg. Our outreach team members Mattea Müller and Barbara Götz provided an informative booth at the conference on all four days.
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/eighthnewsletter/vaam+dghm…]
Many researchers with diverse scientific backgrounds were interested in the services provided by our consortium. Our outreach team provided answers to all the questions the community addressed them with and raffled divers merchandise articles among all booth visitors.
In addition, we held the NFDI4Microbiota symposium presenting our services to making microbiology research data Open and FAIR on June 5th. NFDI4Microbiota speaker Konrad Förstner (ZB MED) introduced participants to the mission and vision of our consortium. Afterwards, a best-practice workflow development recommendation and a selection of our most interesting services was presented:
* Developing and Maintaining Best-Practice Workflows and Services for Processing Microbiological Research Data by Hesham Almessady (HZI),
* UseCase MetaProt: Standardization and Metadata in microbial community proteomics (Kay Schallert, ISAS),
* StrainInfo: A central database for resolving microbial strain identifiers (Lorenz Reimer, DSMZ) and
* VirJenDB: Toward a community-curated and open-source virus meta(data) analysis platform (Noriko Cassman, University Jena).
You can find the complete presentation online.<https://zenodo.org/records/12189067>
It was a great conference with inspiring encounters and exciting talks. We are already looking forward to interact with you at other upcoming conferences. For example "Gesundheit Gemeinsam", the joint conference of five different medical societies including the GDMS (German association for medical informatics, biometry and epidemiology) and the DGEpi (German society for epidemiology), which is one of our supporting societies. We will share a booth there with NFDI4Health. And of course at our annual NFDI4Microbiota conference, which will take place in December - see the text further down.
HeFDI Data Week presentation of NFDI4Microbiota
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/eighthnewsletter/unimr_lea…]
The Hessian Federal state initiative organizes each year the HeFDI Data Week, which is aimed at researchers, educators, students and anyone interested in learning more about topics like FAIR data.
On June 5th, Thomas Clavel and Shahram Saghaei presented our consortia speaking about: NFDI4Microbiota - Infrastructure, Microbiology, Databases and Interaction. The presentation started with Thomas Clavel introducing NFDI4Microbiota and detailing interaction possibilities. After that, he exemplified the Use Cases, which are research projects from the community that profit from the services of NFDI4Microibota.
Sharam Saghaei who described VirJenDB - a database that aims to be the central hub to connect virus researchers with publicly available virus resources, metadata and sequences, concluded the presentation. VirJenDB is now also an active Use Case of NFDI4Microbiota.
NFDI GEo-Chem-Life-Sciences-Helpdesks meeting in Bremen
On May 27th and 28th 2024, representatives of NFDI4Microbiota, NFDI4Health, NFDI4Biodiversity, NFDI4Chem, NFDI4Earth, NFDI4BioImage, DataPlant und FAIRagro came together in Bremen to discuss Helpdesks and support structures. This was a great opportunity for us to meet and connect, share experiences and discuss future collaborations with consortia of closely related disciplines. Together we compiled a competence matrix and workflows for liaising on interdisciplinary questions and for the efficient transfer of tickets between consortia to ensure that inquiries can be forwarded to the most qualified Helpdesk.
Our NFDI4Microbiota Helpdesk answers all kinds of questions and issues regarding data management and data analysis as well as queries about the NFDI4Microbiota consortium, services, outreach, community activities, and more.
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/eighthnewsletter/helpdesk_…]
You can contact the Helpdesk by filling out the contact form<https://nfdi4microbiota.de/contact-form/> or sending us an email.<mailto:helpdesk@nfdi4microbiota.de>
Community Engagement
Upcoming Events and Conferences
________________________________
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/eighthnewsletter/n4m_save-…]
Save the date: NFDI4Microbiota annual conference December 3rd-4th, 2024
Please mark your calendar: we will have this year's annual conference in Leipzig, Germany on December 3rd to 4th. There will be a panel discussion, interesting keynotes, helpful workshops and more you can look forward to. More information and registration opportunity coming soon on our events page<https://nfdi4microbiota.de/newsroom/events.html>.
Take part in the next NFDI4Microbiota Knowledge base sprint
Are you a microbiology researcher, research data management enthusiast or developer? We need your help! Join the next NFDI4Microbiota Knowledge Base Content & Coding Sprint on September 11th.
The Knowledge base offers extensive information about research data management, software development and much more. And you can help us to make this even better! Contribute to the content or improve the code. If you are interested, get more information and registration here.<https://pretix.eu/n4m/2KBsprint/>
Join the ambassador meetings
Do you know our Ambassador Program? The mission of the NFDI4Microbiota consortium is to serve as the central hub in Germany, providing essential support to the microbiology community by facilitating access to data, analysis services, data/meta-data standards, and training. To fulfill this mission, we are running the NFDI4Microbiota Ambassador Program, dedicated to connecting and training (early career) researchers within the microbiology community.
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/eighthnewsletter/n4m_ambas…]
As part of our commitment, we aim to assist young scientists in expanding their research networks and disseminating knowledge on data handling, metadata standards, standardized bioinformatic workflows and further related topics. Join us in our ambassador program for networking and spreading FAIR principles and openness in microbiome research!
For our Ambassadors, we host bimonthly ambassador meetings with interesting topics. The next meeting will take place on July 29th, starting at 14:30 CEST. Frank Förster of the JLU Gießen will tell us about ARUNA object storage. Did you ever wished to share your data in a domain-agnostic, fast and secure way that additionally ensures sharing accordingly to the FAIR principles? Or are you related to data management and would like to learn about ways to share data? Be sure not to miss this talk. Get more information about the program here.<https://nfdi4microbiota.de/community/ambassador.html>
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/eighthnewsletter/coffee_ta…]
Take a break and join our Coffee Talks
The Coffee Talk meetings provide an opportunity to learn more about NFDI4Microbiota's services and mission from within and around the NFD4Microbiota community. These bimonthly meetings take place online and are open to all who are interested in staying informed about current developments and topics related to data in microbiology research.
The next Coffee Talk will take place on August 26th. Get more information on the topics and the schedule here.<https://nfdi4microbiota.de/newsroom/news/2024-04-26-nfdi4microbiota-coffee-…>
Services
________________________________
2025 Flex Funds call just opened!
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/eighthnewsletter/megafon.p…]
We are glad to inform you, that the 2025 Flex Funds call is open from June 10th to August 7th 2024.
What is funded?
The NFDI4Microbiota Flex Funds provide funding to perform a short one-year project from the community. The project needs to correspond to the mission of NFDI4Microbiota. A list of matching topics is provided below.
What is the aim of the Flex Funds? The NFDI4Microbiota consortium aims to realize the dynamic adaptation of services and support of further data types, development of new training programs, and improvement of the ability to react to unforeseen technical challenges. Therefore, within the NFDI4Microbiota project work, flexible funding (so called 'Flex Funds') for small projects (12 months) within the research community are available for the years 2023 to 2026. To achieve a dynamic system that stays on track with new trends in the field, the Flex Funds support small projects from the community and active Use Cases.
What are eligible topics? Eligible topics are as follows:
* Data Brokerage
* Workflow development
* Data storage and workflow execution
* Infrastructure/Services
* Training
* Community engagement and outreach
* Establishment of local data stewards
* Use Case connection or an active Use Case
* Deposition of high quality data sets in public repositories
Details on the eligible topics, further information on the call and the procedure can be found on the NFDI4Microbiota web portal.<https://nfdi4microbiota.de/newsroom/flexfunds.html>
In case you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact us via contact(a)nfdi4microbiota.de.<mailto:contact@nfdi4microbiota.de>
Training Announcements
________________________________
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/eighthnewsletter/Isometric…]
There are several interesting training offers currently open for registration, like:
* Summer-School: Trends in multiomics data analysis for Microbial Ecology and Biotechnology (July 8th-26th)
* Optimizing Microbial Research Data Utilization: Integrating Electronic Lab Notebooks into your data management strategy (Aug 27th-29th)
* Computational Pangenomics Workshop @ GCB (Sep 30th)
* The NFDI4Microbiota and de.NBI 16S amplicon training course (Oct 8th-10th)
And more courses are planned. In September you can learn about "Linux Basics for Bioinformatics" and in November about "Metagenomics".
As soon as the registration opens, you will find it on the NFDI4Microbiota website.<https://nfdi4microbiota.de/services/training.html> More courses will be announced soon, so check the website regularly for training opportunities.
Previous Training
________________________________
Biometadata Workshop: How to Describe Biological Data? A Primer to a FAIR Approach for Now and the Future
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/eighthnewsletter/20240607_…]
Did you miss the recent Biometadata workshop in Tübingen? If so, you skipped on an incredible opportunity to dive deep into the world of biological metadata with leading experts in the field. But don't worry-there's always next time!
Understanding and implementing FAIR standards is crucial in modern research. Metadata provides the context necessary for data to be understood and reused, ensuring reproducibility, and facilitating further research. However, the process of thoroughly describing data with appropriate metadata can be complex and daunting. This workshop aimed to demystify the process, clearing the fog, and revealing the path forward.
Designed for beginners, the workshop was perfect for those new to data submission and the collection of biological metadata in microbiome research. It focused on using terms based on existing ontologies and controlled vocabularies, crucial for enabling future machine-actionable analyses.
Participants engaged with an online pad for interactive exercises and a team of helpers to support them when puzzled. All adhered to the Carpentries' code of conduct to create a safe and inclusive environment. This approach ensured that everyone felt comfortable participating and asking questions.
Given the wealth of material covered in a single day, we actively monitored participants' expectations and learning goals. Here are some of the goals they shared:
* Uploading metadata for metagenomics data: Participants wanted to learn how to upload data and metadata to the required online repositories and understand what these repositories are.
* Organizing biological data: Many attendees sought to bring order to the chaos of their biological data.
* Identifying necessary metadata: There was a strong desire to learn what metadata needs to be collected and recorded for scientific data.
To address these goals, the workshop included a beginner's guide to metadata and ontologies, reviewed data repositories and metadata fields, standards, and minimal requirements. We also explored data description examples, ontologies for biological data, and introduced the DataHarmonizer tool to aid in metadata collection and validation.
Interactive exercises were a core part of the workshop. Participants worked in groups to explain their own datasets and annotate them with ontology terms, turning what might have been a dry topic into a dynamic and engaging experience.
This free workshop was led by two Carpentries certified NFDI4Microbiota instructors from the Functional Microbiome Research Group at the Institute of Medical Microbiology, University Hospital of RWTH in Aachen.
Cooperations
________________________________
BY-COVID project is about to start
A NFDI4Microbiota team consisting of Noriko Cassman and Manja Marz from FSU Jena and Konrad Foerstner from ZB MED, has secured a grant by the BeYond-COVID (BY-COVID) consortium through a successful proposal to the open call "Support for the implementation of SARS-CoV-2 data hubs at national and regional levels".<https://by-covid.org/news/support-implementation-sars-cov2/> The proposal is titled "Validation and submission tool to facilitate virus data flow into ENA via secure intermediate storage".
Now, that the agreement has finally been signed, the project will extend VirJenDB, the comprehensive virus database based at FSU Jena which is currently being developed as an NFDI4Microbiota service and Use Case<https://nfdi4microbiota.de/community/usecases/virjendb> to connect researchers and virus research data and resources. The work in the proposed project has three planned parts: 1) virus pathogen metadata curation and integration, 2) validation parameter evaluation and 3) submission tool development. These will be carried out to achieve the shared goals of VirJenDB and BY-COVID projects, which are to help mobilize (German) virus sequence data to the ENA. The awarded amount is 60,000 euros over 6 months in 2024. We look forward to the results of this project!
[https://nfdi4microbiota.de/assets/img/newsletter/eighthnewsletter/social_me…]
If you would like to have more information, check the following links:
* BY-COVID<https://by-covid.org/>
* ENA<https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/browser/home>
* FAIR Principles<https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18>
* ELIXIR<https://elixir-europe.org/>
Recent Publications
________________________________
Ten simple rules for implementing electronic lab notebooks (ELNs)
NFDI4Microbiota Data Steward Justine Vandendorpe just published an excellent overview of ELNs. The paper "Ten simple rules for implementing electronic lab notebooks (ELNs)"<https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012170>, published in PLOS Computational Biology, provides invaluable insight and practical steps for selecting and implementing ELNs.
An ELN is a software tool for documenting laboratory experiments, research data, and processes. ELNs are poised to replace paper lab notebooks as part of the ongoing digital transformation and offer many advantages over physical lab notebooks.
Dive into Justine's article to learn more about the ten rules to help you on your journey to implementing ELNs. Key highlights include an in-depth discussion of the benefits of open-source ELNs, an emphasis on the importance of standardization, and a handy questionnaire to test the usability of ELNs in the supporting information.
A practical approach to using the genomic standard's consortium MIxS reporting standard for comparative genomics and metagenomics
A group of scientists around NFDI4Microbiota co-speaker Alice McHardy published a protocol belonging to the book "Comperative Genomics, Methods and protocols", published by Humana, New York. The name of the protocol is: "A practical approach to using the genomic standard's consortium MIxS reporting standard for comparative genomics and metagenomics".<https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3838-5_20> The book belongs to the book series "Methods in Molecular Biology".
The protocol provides a description of the structure and terminology of the GSC's MIxS reporting standard, how to navigate ontologies for required terms in MIxS, and demonstrates practical usage through a soil metagenome example. The Genomic Standards Consortium (GSC) collaborates with the research community to develop and maintain the Minimum Information about any (x) Sequence (MIxS) reporting standard for genomic data to enable comparative analysis of (meta)genomes necessitates aggregation, integration, and synthesis of well-annotated data using standards.
New video publications available
In addition to the written publications we provide on our website, we proudly present our very own NFDI4Microbiota channel on the TIB AV-Portal.<https://av.tib.eu/publisher/NFDI4Microbiota> There you can find recordings of talks given within the consortium, for example on topics like ELNs, workflows, our Use Cases and, of course, an introduction to NFDI4Microbiota.
Some selected video publications you can also find directly in the new media center on our website.<https://nfdi4microbiota.de/newsroom/mediacenter.html>
Social Links and Contact
________________________________
This newsletter is brought to you by NFDI4Microbiota
Mail: contact(a)nfdi4microbiota.de<mailto:contact@nfdi4microbiota.de>
Web: www.nfdi4microbiota.de<https://www.nfdi4microbiota.de/>
If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, click here to unsubscribe.<https://lists.nfdi.de/postorius/lists/nfdi4microbiota-announce.lists.nfdi.d…>
Follow us
Mastodon<https://nfdi.social/@NFDI4Microbiota>
LinkedIn<https://www.linkedin.com/company/98488870/admin/feed/posts/>
BlueSky<https://bsky.app/profile/nfdi4microbiota.bsky.social>
GitHub<https://github.com/NFDI4Microbiota>
________________________________
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung GmbH | Inhoffenstraße 7 | 38124 Braunschweig | www.helmholtz-hzi.de
Vorsitzende des Aufsichtsrates: Frau MinDir'in Prof. Dr. Veronika von Messling, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
Stellvertreter: MinDirig Rüdiger Eichel, Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur
Wissenschaftlicher Geschäftsführer: Prof. Dr. Josef Penninger - Administrativer Geschäftsführer: Christian Scherf
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH)
Sitz der Gesellschaft: Braunschweig
Handelsregister: Amtsgericht Braunschweig, HRB 477
Unsere Hinweise zum Datenschutz finden Sie hier: https://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/de/service/datenschutz/
Dear NFDI4Microbiota community,
We are glad to inform you, that the 2025 Flex Funds call just opened! The call will be open from June 10th to August 7th 2024.
What is the aim of the Flex Funds?
The NFDI4Microbiota consortium aims to realize the dynamic adaptation of services and support of further data types, development of new training programs, and improvement of the ability to react to unforeseen technical challenges. Therefore, within the NFDI4Microbiota project work, flexible funding (so called 'Flex Funds') for small projects within the research community are available for the years 2023 to 2026. To implement a dynamic system that stays on track with new trends in the field, the Flex Funds will support small projects from the community and active Use Cases.
What are eligible topics?
Eligible topics are as follows:
· Data Brokerage
· Workflow development
· Data storage and workflow execution
· Infrastructure/Services
· Training
· Community engagement and outreach
· Establishment of local data stewards
· Use Case connection or an active Use Case
· Deposition of high quality data sets in public repositories
Details on the eligible topics, further information on the call and the procedure can be found on the NFDI4Microbiota web portal<https://nfdi4microbiota.de/newsroom/flexfunds.html>.
While you're on the web portal, do not miss out to take a look at our newly listed services.
In case you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact us via contact(a)nfdi4microbiota.de<mailto:contact@nfdi4microbiota.de>.
We are looking forward to your application!
Kind regards,
The NFDI4Microbiota Adminsitration Unit
---
Barbara Götz, M.Sc. Microbiology
Project manager NFDI4Microbiota
E-Mail: goetz(a)zbmed.de<mailto:goetz@zbmed.de>
Tel.: +49 0221 999 892 513
Webportal: www.nfdi4microbiota.de<http://www.nfdi4microbiota.de/>
Mastodon: nfdi.social/@NFDI4Microbiota<https://nfdi.social/@NFDI4Microbiota>
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/nfdi4microbiota/<https://www.linkedin.com/company/nfdi4microbiota/>
ZB MED - Informationszentrum Lebenswissenschaften
Gleueler Straße 60
50931 Köln
www.zbmed.de<http://www.zbmed.de/>
INFORMATION. WISSEN. LEBEN.