Julia Fernández from CNB-CSIC Highlights INFRAFRONTIER’s Contribution to Human Disease Research at ISCIII

Julia Fernández, from the National Center for Biotechnology (CNB-CSIC) –a key INFRAFRONTIER partner–, was invited to attend a session on European health infrastructures organised by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III on 17 June. Representing INFRAFRONTIER, she presented some key aspects to the audience.

In her presentation, Julia explained that INFRAFRONTIER is the European Research Infrastructure for modelling human diseases, emphasising the generation, phenotyping, archiving, and distribution of mouse –and rat– models through the EMMA Archive, Partners’ Facilities and Mouse Clinics. She mentioned that INFRAFRONTIER is a consortium of leading European research institutions, operational since 2007, with 21 partners across 15 countries. And that since 2024, it has been recognised as an ERIC (European Research Infrastructure Consortium).

Julia stressed the significant impact of INFRAFRONTIER by operating EMMA, the third largest strain repository worldwide with roughly 9000 mouse strains. The CNB-CSIC is a major player, hosting over 560 strains. She showed relevant numbers, like the more than 2,500 citations in scientific publications, including over 49 publications in Cell, 43 in Nature Genetics, and 82 in Nature.

The audience gained a deep understanding of INFRAFRONTIER’s significant contribution to animal welfare and the 3Rs –Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement– reducing the need for animal use and promoting the application of standardised protocols and best practices.

We would like to thank Julia Fernandez for her insightful contribution at the event!

Watch the full event in YouTube ( link)
Julia Fernandez’ presentation from 03:14:30

More details at ISCIII news website