Composition
The mixed IFB-core services unit includes:
the Executive Director of the IFB and the Scientific Deputy
the statutory staff attached to the UAR
the contract staff recruited by the IFB
the persons mandated, via a mission letter, to devote part of their time to the coordination of the work packages and actions of the roadmap
Missions
The specific missions of the IFB-core are the following:
- Serve as an interface with different interlocutors, including the IFB platforms, the French life sciences and bioinformatics communities, the French bioinformatics community, the partners of European initiatives in the field of bioinformatics (first and foremost ELIXIR).
- Set up and administer a multi-site national IT infrastructure (National Network of Computing Resources, NNCR) that combines two complementary technological environments for computing and data storage: the Cluster (Hub hosted at IDRIS, Orsay) and the Cloud (Hub hosted at CC-IN2P3, Lyon).
- Orchestrate the IFB's policy of accompaniment and support for the projects of the life sciences community. In the medium term, the objective is to become the single and clearly identified entry point for all requests for bioinformatics support from the life sciences community
- Coordinate and promote the pooling of methodological developments between bioinformatics platforms
- Develop and make available innovative tools to meet the challenges of life sciences, in particular that of integrative bioinformatics, massive data processing and management, data security, artificial intelligence, and the application of open science principles to biological research.
- Establish collaborations with other national health biology infrastructures for the management, processing, and integration of their data.
- Structure and implement the training and teaching programme provided by the IFB platforms, if possible in relation with the training structures of the supervisory bodies. Initially, list all existing training courses and propose new courses. Develop and distribute training materials and resources for self-training (in particular via e-learning).
- Provide teachers and trainers with an appropriate IT infrastructure and software environment for the organisation of bioinformatics training courses.
- Ensure a mission of leadership of the bioinformatics community. This involves promoting scientific collaborations between the different bioinformatics platforms, encouraging the sharing of experience, and pooling the knowledge and results of the technological watch carried out by each FP. To this end, IFB-core helps to organise and subsidises thematic workshops and conferences. Among others, IFB-core contributes to the financing of the Journées Ouvertes en Biologie, Informatique et Mathématiques (JOBIM), the annual French bioinformatics conference.
- Represent the French bioinformatics community within the ELIXIR hub: the IFB is the French node of ELIXIR. There is a collaboration agreement between the IFB and ELIXIR allowing for the transfer of funds
- Set up and provide information on the IFB's key performance indicators for use by the supervisory authorities of the platforms, the ANR and the CGI, based on a quality management approach (ISO9001 and NFX-50 900 standards).
