Speaker
Antonio Rosato
(CIRMMP)
Description
Structural biology deals with the characterization of the structural (atomic coordinates) and dynamic (fluctuation of atomic coordinates over time) properties of biological macromolecules and adducts thereof. The West-Life H2020 project [1] is an initiative to bring the world of complex data analysis in structural biology to a simple Web browser-based Virtual Research Environment (VRE), available to any research team in the field. In addition, West-Life aims to further the use of structural biology data beyond the current reference community. To address the latter task we convened representatives of various research infrastructures (RIs) not directly operating in the field of structural biology to hold a round table discussion on the occasion of a meeting of the users of structural biology facilities [2]. In parallel, we organized an online survey addressed to individual scientists in the general biological community. RI representatives conveyed the need for innovative services that bridge structural information and the biomedical information that each RI is providing to its own reference communities. Individual researchers from the chemical, biological and biomedical communities expressed the need for tools that are more easily discoverable, better documented and affording a deeper comprehension of the quality of the underlying experimental data than currently available. In addition, the research community requested for improved reuse of structural data in complex scenarios such as modelling of biochemical events or in the interpretation of biological and functional information. This goes in the same direction as the aforementioned requirement of RI representatives that there should be tools that bridge structural information to other types of biomedically relevant information.
[1] https://about.west-life.eu/
[2] https://www.structuralbiology.eu/content/bringing-together-the-bio-medical-scientific-communities-the-role-of-research-infrastructures
| Topic Area | Impact evaluation and metrics |
|---|---|
| Type of abstract | Lightning Talk (5 minutes) |
Primary author
Antonio Rosato
(CIRMMP)
Co-author
VRE West-Life partnership
(https://about.west-life.eu/)
