Expanding bioimaging infrastructure and access
The last 15 years witnessed a revolution in bioimaging technologies enabling living tissue to be visualised with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. To ensure excellence in a field with important socioeconomic impact, the EU funded the EURO-BIOIMAGING(opens in new window) project that established the legal, financial and technical framework for a unified European bioimaging research infrastructure. Overall, the goal is to provide significantly more scientists open access to facilities, expertise, training and data services. Bringing together the European Commission and national funding bodies, scientists developed a financial and business plan for realistic construction and operation of the infrastructure. The network consists of complementary yet strongly linked nodes, the first of which are currently under construction or negotiating financial support with national funders. They are geographically distributed in different Member States and will be coordinated by the EURO-BIOIMAGING Hub, which will direct users to the appropriate facilities depending on the desired imaging technology. In a six-month proof-of-concept phase, the consortium successfully demonstrated with more than 100 European research projects that open access to the latest imaging technologies spawns new discoveries. EURO-BIOIMAGING has stimulated explosive enthusiasm on the part of European countries. Nine have rated bioimaging infrastructure as a high-priority national issue. There are now 24 national imaging initiatives across Europe that are coordinating research efforts in their respective countries and providing a unified voice to national funding agencies. The EURO-BIOIMAGING Industry Board to date is comprised of more than 50 companies, promising focused research and rapid transfer of knowledge from the research arena to market. The EURO-BIOIMAGING Memorandum of Understanding was drafted by delegates from 21 European countries interested in participating along with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). It has now been signed by EMBL and 12 countries that will act as the interim board responsible for infrastructure implementation in the current interim phase. During this phase, the framework structure will be finalised and the Hub selected. Already, more than 2 000 well-defined projects are in the pipeline, waiting for the official launching of the EURO-BIOIMAGING infrastructure to conduct world-class research in world-class facilities.
