Denmark has ratified the ELIXIR Consortium Agreement (ECA), ELIXIR, giving Danish researchers access to bioscientific data from across Europe and greater capacity for storing and analysing huge data volumes—work which is potentially very important for the development of tomorrow’s medicines
Being involved in ELIXIR means that Denmark and the other member countries will together build up an infrastructure that can store, analyse and share biological data across national borders. In addition to Denmark, seven ELIXIR members have currently agreed to share data and IT tools to establish the best possible conditions for biology and medicine research .
A partnership on sharing research data significantly boosts Danish research:
“Danish research is renowned worldwide for its ability to apply data. Now we have greater access to data that will enable us to shift up a gear in terms of driving the research and innovation that will ensure the growth and jobs that are needed to support Denmark’s welfare society,” says Danish Minister for Higher Education and Science, Sofie Carsten Nielsen.
DTU is heading the consortium which is coordinating Denmark’s ELIXIR Node, and which also involves the University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University and the University of Southern Denmark. The consortium is also working with a wide range of Danish medico and biotech businesses including Lundbeck, Novo Nordisk, Novozymes and Exiqon.
Creating the basis for tomorrow’s medicines
The partnership is potentially very important for the development of tomorrow’s medicines, among other things. In sharing data and IT tools, the member countries are creating the platform required to adapt medicines to individual patients.
“Medicines work differently on different people—for example Italians have a slightly different genetic make-up to Danes. The partnership will offer us access to databases which describe human genetic variation, in other words the genetic differences within and among populations. This will enable us to develop medicines that incorporate these variations and which are effective for individual patients,” says Søren Brunak, Professor at DTU Systems Biology and Chair of the ELIXIR Interim Board.
“In Denmark, we have developed outstanding IT tools for analysing the biological data and which we are now sharing with the other member countries.”
The Danish consortium—which is headed by DTU—has been granted DKK 25 million from the National Programme for Research Infrastructures which will secure Danish participation in ELIXIR.
- ELIXIR is the European research infrastructure for biological information—a special project under the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL).
- ELIXIR aims to create and run a stable framework for biological and medical databases that can support biological research—both in relation to basic research and for applications within medicine, biotechnology and the environment, in the biotech industry and in society as a whole.
- Denmark’s membership of ELIXIR has been formally approved by the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science and is being coordinated by DTU which is heading a consortium that includes academic partners such as the University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University and the University of Southern Denmark. Moreover, the universities are cooperating with a wide range of Danish businesses.
- Other member countries include UK, Sweden, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Norway and the Netherlands, and ten other countries have signed a ‘memorandum of understanding’ and are also working towards membership.