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In early 1993, the European Mol- ecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), whose headquarters is in Heidelberg, Germany, decided to locate its new Outstation, the European Bioinfor- matics Institute (E13I), in Hinxton, just outside Cambridge, UK. Just 18 months later, September 1994 sees the official start of operations at EBI, with the relocation of the EMBL Data Library to this site. Hinxton is already a 'hot spot' for genomics research, with the site home to the Sanger Centre, speciahzing in genome sequencing, and the UK Medical ILesearch Council (MILC)'s Human Genome Project ILesource Centre.

EBI's structure-function relationships

The need for EBI arises from changing circumstances: in addition to the great increase in user-demand for the EMBL Data Library's services, major advances in relevant scientific fields, such as genomics, biocomputing and theoretical bi- ology, have created the demand for a dedicated, international bioinfor- matics centre. EMBL's Nucleotide Sequence Database grew 42% to almost 160Mbp (20% of which is human data) during 1993, and a 20- fold increase in the size of the Database by the end of this century is predicted. The SWISS-PILOT database grew to include ~11.4 million amino acid residues over the past year, and a new European Com- mission (EC)-funded project to establish a European Integrated Database of Immunological Interest was also started in 1993. Clearly, additional resources, staff and facili- ties are required to accommodate this expansion. Although the activities at EBI have been broadly described as service and research, in operational terms, boundaries will be avoided and all groups, whether involved in pure service, service-development

research, or basic research, wqA1 col- laborate closely.

Who's who at EBI In early July this year, the key

appointments for EBI staff were made. The Head of EBI is Paolo Zanella, Professor of Architecture and Technologies of Computers at the University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. His extensive previous experience and expertise in the appli- cation of informatics includes the development of CEILN's data- handling division, and the founding and scientific direction of CILS4, a centre for high-performance com- puters and networks, in Cagliari, Sardinia. The service branch of EBI will be directed by Graham Cameron, whose leadership of the EMBL Data Library directed its growth and maturation to its current, internationally acclaimed, status. The Coordinator of ILesearch is to be Michael Ashburner, Professor of Genetics at the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, and leader of the European group con- tributing to 'Flybase', the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Drosophila integrated database. The first two Group Leader appointments have been offered to Chris Sander, currently at EMBL, and Shoshana Wodak, currently at the Free Uni- versity of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium, both of whom have contributed greatly to the general area of sequence-structure relationships' research.

Further appointments brought the service division up to 40 staff in September, and a further expansion to 70 will begin on completion of building in Spring 1995. The devel- opment phase of EBI will be given external guidance by the Bioinfor- matics Advisory Committee (BAC), shortly to be appointed by the Direc- tor General ofEMBL, Fotis Kafatos, to ensure that close links are main-

tained with the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) of EMBL and the Nucleotide Sequence Database International Advisory Committee.

FBI's mission The mandate of EBI is to continue

and extend the activities of the EMBL Data Library. The Nucleo- tide Sequence Database will con- tinue to be the European collection point for nucleotide-sequence data, and integration with the SWISS- PILOT database (in collaboration with the University of Geneva) will bring obvious advantages as a result of nucleotide-sequence and protein- sequence data entry occurring in the same location. Similar benefits would be accrued by coordinating sequence and macromolecular-structure data- bases, and EBI hopes to be the major European partner in a transatlantic project with this goal. Collaboration with other European groups that are developing specialized databases Hill also enable coordinated access to these external databases, including those covering nomenclature, physi- cal- and genetic maps, and taxo- nomic-, function-specific-, organ- ism-specific-, and sequencing-centre project-specific databases.

Service, first and foremost Initially, the focus will be on the

services previously provided by the EMBL Data Library, and this aspect will remain an important part of the long-term purpose of the institute. Expansion will involve introduction of comprehensive user-support and training activities. Courses devised in consultation with EBI's collaborators

cover topics ranging from the use of EBI's products to advances in bioinformatics. The aim is that these courses can be provided in different locations and computing environments. Collaboration with other centres will generate high- quality, multilingual user-support documentation, including electronic documents, self-help tools and multi-media products. User-support will also be available, either by tele- phone or, in some instances, on-site, to allow consultation on problems encountered in using EBI's re- sources, and in helping users set up their own systems. A visitors' progamme will allow scientists to work at the institute for short periods of up to a year. It is expected that users will provide extensive feedback to guide the direction of EBI's evolution, and defined

Workshop

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mechanisms for achieving this are being set up.

Research and development Pure service activities will be

complemented by a growing em- phasis on both service-orientated 1K&D and basic research. Service- orientated aspects will include the development of improved tools for data collection, systematic nomencla- ture for data attribution, methods for error-detection, sequence-alignment, quality-control and data-validation. Activity will also focus on develop- ing specialized networking facihties and methods to ensure interoper- ability of the different databases. The existence of an expert in-house research team will ensure that EBI is at the forefront of research into infor- mation analysis and provision, not only responding to external provider and user input, but actively pushing the technology forward.

The bioinformatics research pro- gramme will also extend into, and be integrated with, investigation of more-fundamental aspects of biologi- cal function. The programme is still under development, and will be determined following the advice of BAC, and the interests of the other group leaders as they are appointed. It is likely that the programme will encompass topics such as genome organization, analysis of nucleotide- and protein-sequence, mapping and hnkage, and computer-modelling of cellular processes (for example, development, regulation and gene expression) and methods for predict- ing three-dimensional structure from sequence data.

An international role Substantial investment for the

launch and transition costs of setting up the EBI has been made by both the Wellcome Trust and the UK MKC. While the long-term financial support of the EMBL member states is of key importance in enabling the EBI to continue its development, the EBI is looking beyond European borders and will participate actively in the global bioinformatics scene through close collaboration with partners else- where in the world. These partners include major bioinformatics centres outside Europe, and EMBnet, the now-independent European network of nodes originated by EMBL.

Industrial participation The EBI will strive to serve both

the industrial and academic scien-

tific-research communities of the EU and EMBL member states. Particular attention will be given to strength- enmg existing links and forging new ones with industries in the private sector that share EBI's interests in the collection, analysis, dissemination and application of sequence infor- mation: these include the pharma- ceutical, biotechnology, computer- hardware, software and publishing industries. EBI will take a proactive role in developing such interactions through an Industrial Affiliates Pro- gramme, with non-proprietary joint ventures and annual bioinformatics workshops. The goal of EBI is to facilitate the dissemination and exploitation of biological infor- mation, and thus will provide infor- mation without any restriction, other than acknowledgement of its source. Although tools for database-access, data entry, editing and validation will be developed in-house, EBI will also validate and distribute such tools developed by third parties: EBI cannot, however, be held responsible for the quality of information orig- inating from third parties that it passes on to users.

A bright future As an Outstation of EMBL, EBI

has an excellent pedigree and owes

much to the success that the EMBL Data Library has already achieved. The recent appointments of key per- sonnel indicate that rapid develop- ment of a dynamic, prestigious insti- tute is to be expected. Expansion of the new institute, to ensure a world- class ranking of both the service and research components, will depend not only on the financial support of the EU and EMBL member states, but also on the continued involve- ment of the European academic and industrial research communities. Without doubt, the EBI's first steps will be watched closely by all those with vested interests in bioinfor- matics.

Clare Robinson Trends in Biotechnology

For further information on the activities and services of the EBI,

please contact:

EMBL Outstation - the EBI, Hinxton Hall, Himxton,

Cambridge, UK CB10 1RQ.

Tel: +44 (0) 1223 494400 Fax: +44 (0) 1223 494468

e-mail: office@ebi.ac.uk

Third International E. coil Genome Meeting, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA,

USA, 4-8 November 1994

The Third International E. coliGenome Meeting will include invited talks, poster sessions, and workshops analysing the E. coil genome at the genetic, sequence and structural levels, with the goal being to facilitate a coordinated structure-function analysis of the genome.

Specific topics will include: • Status reports on large-scale sequence efforts • Genome-mapping technologies • Applications of sequence analysis • Genome organization, rearrangements • Repeated sequences

Registration material can be obtained from: Conference Services, PO Box 477, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA. Tel: 1 508 540 6055 Fax: 1 508 540 0155 e-mail: confserv@ hoh.mbl.edu

IBTECH OCTOBER 1994 (VOL 12)