News
02-February-10
Survey on animal husbandry management systems and laboratory information management systems (LIMS): Opportunity to participate!
A survey on animal husbandry management systems and laboratory information management systems (LIMS) has been initiated in December 2009 by Infrafrontier.
The aim of this survey is to assess both husbandry and phenotyping aspects as well as the (bio-) informatics that supports it. With this questionnaire we want to get an overview on how the animal facilities manage data generated in their facility, especially animal husbandry data and mouse phenotyping results, and which approaches they use for this purpose.
The answers of a previously conducted survey on cryo sample repository management systems (June 2009) showed that in some cases, the questionnaire triggered a process of reconsidering the current strategy of data management; which was beneficial for the participants as well. Additionally, we would like to kindly ask the Infrafrontier partners to take the opportunity to participate in this survey. Even if your facility does not possess a central data management system, but instead you rely on Excel files or lab journals, you are contributing to our effort with a valuable and important result!
The survey is split into two independent parts:
1) a questionnaire on animal husbandry management systems:
2) a questionnaire on LIMS used for storing and analysing mouse phenotyping results:
Infrafrontier will collate a report based on the results of both questionnaires, which will also contain an analysis of best designs and recommendations for software management systems. In this report or in any publication possibly originating thereof we will not include any identifying data. The report will be made available to the entire mouse functional genetics community.
Thank you for your participation!
17-December-09
Czech Republic, Austria and Canada as well as further administrative partners are now members of Infrafrontier!
With the European Commission’s signature to the Grant Agreement of Infrafrontier on December 11, 2009, six new members from the Czech Republic, Austria, Canada, France and Italy have been included into the consortium. These are the Czech Centre for Phenogenomics (BIOCEV), the Veterinary University of Vienna (VUW), the Toronto Centre for Phenogenomics (TCP), the Czech Ministry for Education,Youth and Sport (MEYSCR), Inserm, and the Italian Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Sciences (IT MOH).
These new members are an important reinforcement for our implementation efforts of Infrafrontier, both on the scientific side and the side of the ministries and funding agencies. They also document Infrafrontier’s increasing significance in the new EU member states and in the global scientific community.
19-November-09
Benchmarking study on Mouse Phenotyping Facilities worldwide: Participation is welcome!
A benchmarking study on Mouse Phenotyping Facilities worldwide is being conducted by Infrafrontier. The goal of this benchmarking study is to collect technical and administrative / management information from each Mouse Phenotyping Facility. This information will be used to create a database on Mouse Phenotyping Facilities and to produce a report, available to the participants of this study.
The benchmarking study is composed of two parts:
First part: a data sheet prefilled with technical information concerning the screen areas and tests performed on each screen area.
Second part: a simple survey with 10 questions regarding administrative/ management aspects of each mouse clinics. (A link to the survey can be found here).
We would like to thank to the participants of this study for their valuable cooperation.
19-October-09
Two Recent Nature articles highlight the important roles of Infrafrontier and EMMA
‘The check-up’ by Alison Abbot (Nature 2009: vol 460 p. 947-948) introduces the concept of first-line systemic phenotyping. It points out to the increasing gap between the demand and the existing capacities and to the important role of Infrafrontier for capacity-building of the European mouse clinics infrastructure.
The article on ‘Post- publication sharing of data and tools’ (Nature 2009: vol 461 p. 171-173) summarises the results of a meeting organised by the CASIMIR consortium this summer. The participants (ranging from mouse researchers to intellectual property rights experts) recommend a cohesive resource sharing policy of scientific institutions, scientific journals and funding agencies to promote the culture of sharing resource commons (data, tools and infrastructures). They also emphasise the importance of sustainable funding for respositories such as EMMA.
06-October-09
NorIMM visit to GMC under the auspices of Infrafrontier
On the 22-23 September 2009 the GMC (German Mouse Clinic) had the pleasure to welcome a delegation of the NorIMM (Nordic Infrastructure for Mouse Models) for a visit to its facilities organised under the auspices of Infrafrontier.
After an introductory talk the participants visited the mouse clinic. Following the in site visit the NorIMM representatives gave an overview on the aims and objectives of NorIMM and the results of an initial inventory about the Nordic mouse resources. The visting programm was concluded by presentations on EMMA and Infrafrontier.
25-September-09
Infrafrontier Scientific Strategy Meeting
Infrafrontier Scientific Members and the Project Management Committee met on the 16th September 2009, at Kempinski Hotel, Munich to discuss recent developments in the area of international phenotyping efforts and European research infrastructure policy. The meeting was attended by 24 delegates, including Mark Moore, International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium and two representatives of the European Commission, Brigitte Sambain and Christian Desaintes (via telephone). Given the complementary nature of the Infrafrontier infrastructure and the IMPC project, the means for a closer coordination of efforts were laid down. Furthermore, the attendees decided on the next implementation steps of the Infrafrontier legal entity.
06-July-09
EMBnet.news features articles on Infrafrontier and other BMS research infrastructure projects.
The recent volume of EMBnet.news (volume 15, issue 2, published 02-July) contains an article on Infrafrontier as well as on other BMS projects on the ESFRI roadmap. EMBnet.news is published by EMBnet, a world wide organisation of bioinformaticians in the fields of genetics and molecular biology (see www.embnet.org for further information). In the article on Infrafrontier project manager Michael Raess and coordinator Martin Hrabé de Angelis provide an overview of Infrafrontier, high-througput mouse phenotyping and archiving and the bioinformatics resources involved.
The release of the current issue of EMBnet.news has been announced at the 17th Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMBECCB) in Stockholm and the HealthGrid Conference in Berlin, which both took place in the end of July.
To directly access the Infrafrontier article, click here. The full issue of EMBnet.news #15(2), containing also the articles on the other ESFRI BMS projects is available at the EMBnet.news website.
09-June-09
Survey on mouse cryo repository management systems, everybody is invited to participate!
A survey on mouse cryo repository management systems has been initiated by Infrafrontier.
The aim of this survey is to collect knowledge on how the mouse cryopreservation units manage their mouse cryo sample repositories and which software solutions are used for that purpose. This questionnaire was sent out to institutions worldwide so that a detailed overview on mouse cryo repository management systems, on a global scale, can be obtained.
This information will be used to make recommendations to new or existing mouse cryopreservation units on the best strategies to adopt when implementing a cryo sample repository management system.
The survey comes in two parts: the first for cryo repository managers, the second directed at (bio)informaticians or system administrators. Each part takes about 15 minutes to complete.
The final results of this survey will be made available to the entire mouse genetics community and will be presented at the EuroMouse Meeting, scheduled for 2010 and organized under the auspices of Infrafrontier.
02-June-09
EMTRAIN proposal enters the negotiation stage with the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI)
The EMTAIN proposal (European Medicines Training Network) is a joint initiative between the ESFRI BMS projects (BBMRI, EATRIS, ECRIN, ELIXIR, Infrafrontier, INSTRUCT) and partners of the European pharmaceutical industry in response to IMI’s first call for tenders in 2008 . The proposal has passed the two evaluation stages and is currently entering the negotiation stage of the grant agreement.
The aim is to establish a pan-European platform for education and training covering the whole lifecycle of medicines from basic research through clinical development to pharmaco-vigilance. The consortium will develop and implement a strategy for harmonisation and accreditation of Master level and PhD programmes, as well as continuous education programmes. It will develop innovative concepts and methods in conjunction with the other IMI training and education programs.
The Innovative Medicines Initiative is a unique Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the pharmaceutical industry represented by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) and the European Communities represented by the European Commission (EC).
For further information on IMI, please consult the website, read the brochure or watch the short IMI video:
03-May-09
Infrafrontier Annual Meeting 2009 – Constructive results
The Infrafrontier 1st Annual Meeting, 20-21 April, took place in Freising, Germany. 55 delegates participated. The main points of the agenda where: an overview of the general state of the project with a focus on the key objectives and deliverables, progress reports of each individual work package, a meeting of the Project Management Committee, the update on the Community actions for research infrastructures by the European Commission representative, as well as the status of the other BMS projects (BBMRI, EATRIS, ECRIN, ELIXIR, INSTRUCT, EU-Openscreen) and on IMI Call topic 14.
Main discussion points where the implementation of a legal entity, financial requirements and funding strategy, the national and trans-national aspects of phenotyping and archiving resources, the contractual relationships of the participating phenotyping centres and the amendment of the Infrafrontier grant agreement with the EC to bring in new partners.
The participants had also the opportunity to taste and enjoy to the finest Bavarian-style food and drinks at the Weihenstephan brewery- the world oldest brewery!
23-March-09
Online registration feature for Infrafrontier meetings now available
We are pleased to inform that the online registration feature for Infrafrontier meetings is now available. The new addition to the Infrafrontier website will simplify and make more efficient the organisation of the meetings. It was designed in such a way that the Infrafrontier members and friends will be able to conveniently register themselves online for the upcoming Infrafrontier meetings. The online registration tool will only require information regarding the flights and overnight stays, which will be further processed by the Infrafrontier project office. A link to this tool can be found here.
23-March-09
Infrafrontier Annual Meeting 2009, Freising, Germany
The Infrafrontier Annual Meeting 2009 will be held in Freising, Germany, at Munich Airport Marriott Hotel, on the 20th and 21st of April.
On the agenda are the activity reports of the different Infrafrontier work packages. There will be meetings of the Project Management Committee and of the Work Packages on Draft Engineering Specifications, Training, Bioinformatics and Networking. The participants will also receive updated information from the European Commission, on the IMI Call 14 and about other Biomedical Sciences (BMS) Projects.
Around 80 participants, from both Infrafrontier member and observer countries, are expected to take part in this meeting.
The registration feature for the meeting will be open in a few days.
18-March-09
Infrafrontier first training courses on Archiving and Phenotyping
The first Infrafrontier course on Phenotyping, organised by the Institute Clinique de la Souris (ICS), took place in Strasbourg, France from the 9th to 11th February 2009. It was attended by 18 participants from France, Finland, Greece, Spain and the Czech Republic.
A series of training courses on Archiving took place in the first trimester of 2009, organised by the CNRS - Institut de Transgénose, Orléans, France; the Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Germany; the CNR - Instituto di Biologia Cellulare, Monterotondo, Italy, and the MRC - Mammalian Genetics Unit - Harwell, UK. The courses were attended by 18 participants from Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Portugal, Spain and Czech Republic.
The phenotyping course covered the standardised mouse phenotyping based on EMPREeSS and EMPReSSslim Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs). The archiving courses addressed standardised embryo and sperm freezing and IVF techniques, based on EMMA SOPs. Standardised animal welfare procedures were covered by both courses.
The training courses are part of Infrafrontier Work Package 6 - Training. The objective of this work package is the transfer of know-how and standards for phenotyping, animal welfare, archiving and dissemination from established partners to new partners (building new clinics or new archiving nodes). Another important aspect of these courses is to forge personal links between technicians, engineers and scientists in the Infrafrontier consortium.
