Posted by
Tracey P. Lauriault-2 on
May 15, 2006; 6:24pm
URL: http://civicaccess.416.s1.nabble.com/Free-access-to-world-class-biological-databases-for-European-science-thanks-to-FELICS-tp582.html
I know this ain't Canada but this is what could be possible here. I
sent a note to find out what access means in their context. What I like
however, is putting data at the forefront and the recognition that is is
a very important resource - they say "Biomolecular databases are a
crucial scientific infrastructure."! Imagine Canada doing something like
this! Youze!
Cheers
T
*****************
Hinxton, 3 May 2006
Free access to world-class biological databases for European science
thanks to FELICS
Press Release 3 May 2006 [PDF]
A unique electronic infrastructure project funded by the European Union
is launched today
Today the European Molecular Biology Laboratory's [EMBL] European
Bioinformatics Institute [EBI], the Swiss Institute for Bioinformatics
[SIB], the University of Cologne, Germany, and the European Patent
Office launch FELICS [Free European Life-science Information and
Computational Services]. The new project, coordinated by the EBI, will
give researchers unrestricted access to some of the world's most
important biological databases. The Commission of the European Union has
awarded 16.7 million Euro under the Research Infrastructures action of
the sixth Framework Programme [FP6] for the project to develop, enhance
and interlink many of the most important data resources in Europe and
widen their accessibility to the scientific community worldwide. This is
the largest ever European award for computational infrastructures needed
to support biological research.
The EBI is Europe's largest curator and disseminator of biological
information, and has played a leading role in ensuring that information
from genomes, for example, is freely provided to scientists and the
public. Its predecessor, the EMBL Data Library, launched the world's
first universal public database of DNA sequences in the early 1980s.
FELICS encompasses many of the EBI's familiar databases, but will also
feature some crucial new activities. Support for BRENDA, the University
of Cologne's enzyme database, will release it from its current licensing
constraints and provide unrestricted access to its data. FELICS will
also offer specific support for the extraction of information from
patent literature in collaboration with the European Patent Office, who
will also collaborate closely on CheBI, a database of chemical entities
of biological interest, which will receive a substantial boost as part
of the project.
"Bioinformatics now pervades biology," says Graham Cameron, Associate
Director of the EBI and coordinator of FELICS. "Bioinformatics experts
no longer sit between biologist and database. Researchers expect to
directly access the databases and do real work. FELICS gives scientists
the electronic right to roam the biological knowledge space.
Userfriendly software, developed within FELICS and other
Commission-funded projects, will facilitate navigation of that space."
Biomolecular databases are a crucial scientific infrastructure. The EBI
site currently receives around 2 million hits every day, and even the
most conservative estimates suggest a rise to ten million during the
next five years. The need for centralised public information resources
to provide global services for basic and applied biomolecular and
biomedical research can only increase.
"With other support from the EU and the EMBL Member States, the EBI
coordinates several FP6 networks of excellence between leading European
institutes in bioinformatics and is involved in many others. These
connections will ensure that the benefits of FELICS spread far beyond
the four partners involved in the project," Cameron says.
Press Contacts
Cath Brooksbank PhD
Scientific Outreach Officer
EMBL-EBI Hinxton, UK
Tel: +44 1223 492 552
Email:
[hidden email]
www.ebi.ac.uk
Anna-Lynn Wegener
Press Officer
EMBL Heidelberg, Germany
Tel: +49 6221 387 8452
Email:
[hidden email]