NFDI4Microbiota - The German National Research Data Infrastructure for the Research of Microbiota

Poster presented at the BOSC 2022. Microbes have a strong influence on every aspect of human life. Driven by technological advances that allow e.g. high-throughput molecular characterization of microbial species and communities, microbiological research helps to address global health threats such as viral pandemics. These recent advances result in the generation of large data sets, yet the use and re-use of this data so far has failed to exploit its potential. NFDI4Microbiota has started its activity in October 2021 together with several other NFDI (National Research Data Infrastructure) consortia in Germany. It consists of ten well-established partner institutions and is supported by five professional societies and more than 50 participants. It aims to facilitate the digital transformation of the microbiological community and thus the mission of the consortium is to support the microbiology community with access to data, analysis services and (meta)data standards. Besides this, training as well as community engaging activities are offered. Furthermore, a cloud-based system will be created that will make the storage, integration and analysis of microbial data, especially omics data, consistent, reproducible, and accessible. Thereby, NFDI4Microbiota will promote the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable) principles and Open Science. Through the dual emphasis on education and services, NFDI4Microbiota will ensure that microbial research in Germany is synergistic and efficient.