German Network for Bioinformatics Infrastructure
Professional services
UnclaimedA German academic, nonprofit network that provides bioinformatics data, software, computing infrastructure, and training for life-sciences research.
Last updated August 25, 2026
AI crawler reads
No AI crawler has read this profile yet.
Overview
The German Network for Bioinformatics Infrastructure, commonly known as de.NBI, is a national academic and nonprofit infrastructure initiative serving life-sciences research and biomedicine. It was established through funding guidelines issued by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), with the program launched in 2015 and partner projects beginning their operational work in 2016. Its purpose is to help researchers manage and interpret the growing volume and complexity of biological data, often described as the “big data” challenge in life science. Rather than operating as a conventional commercial brand, de.NBI functions as a distributed network of research institutions, service centers, infrastructure groups, and associated training partners. The network has brought together eight interconnected centers and a coordination unit, representing roughly 40 research, service, and infrastructure groups and about 250 bioinformaticians. Its activities cover human, microbial, plant, RNA, proteomic, metabolomic, systems-biology, database, workflow, and research-data-management domains. The network’s service portfolio combines databases, software tools, cloud computing, data-management systems, and expert support. Resources associated with de.NBI include databases such as SILVA, PANGAEA, BacDive, ProteinsPlus, and BRENDA, as well as tools and platforms including Galaxy and useGalaxy.eu, EDGAR, KNIME, OpenMS, SeqAN, PIA, Fiji, MetFrag, COPASI, SIAMCAT, e!DAL-PGP, MGX, ASA³P, and Bakta. These resources support activities ranging from genome and transcriptome analysis to proteomics, metabolomics, imaging, microbial-community analysis, and systems biology. A major infrastructure element is the de.NBI cloud, a federated computing environment developed through collaboration among German universities. It is accessed through a central portal with single sign-on and uses the ELIXIR Authentication and Authorization Infrastructure. As reported for November 2021, the cloud comprised more than 56,000 computing cores and 80 petabytes of storage. The network also connects its tools and services with the wider European ELIXIR infrastructure. Germany joined ELIXIR in 2016, with the German ELIXIR node operated by de.NBI partners. Training and skills development are central to the organization’s role. de.NBI supports face-to-face courses, online instruction, hackathons, webinars, tool-specific workshops, and summer schools. Its programs address students, researchers, and other life-science professionals, with subjects including workflow management, cloud computing, genomics, RNA biology, proteomics, metabolomics, research-data management, and data science. Reported program figures indicate that 9,076 scientists had been trained in 371 courses by January 2022. The original BMBF funding period ran from 2015 to 2021. From 2022, the network was integrated into Forschungszentrum Jülich, providing an institutional framework for continuing its infrastructure and service activities. de.NBI’s positioning is therefore that of a public research infrastructure: it lowers technical barriers to the use of advanced computational biology, promotes interoperable and reusable data services, and connects German research capabilities with European and international life-science communities.
History
The origins of de.NBI lie in a May 2013 announcement by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research concerning funding guidelines for a German Network for Bioinformatics Infrastructure. The proposed infrastructure was intended to address the rapidly increasing scale of life-science data by combining computational resources, bioinformatics services, and education. A second funding announcement for partner projects followed in November 2015. The BMBF formally launched the de.NBI program in March 2015. Partner projects began their work in November 2016, creating a distributed structure rather than a single physical institute. The network developed into eight interconnected service centers and a coordination unit, incorporating approximately 40 research, service, and infrastructure groups and around 250 bioinformaticians. Its centers were organized around complementary domains: human bioinformatics; microbial bioinformatics; proteomics and lipidomics; integrative bioinformatics and workflows; RNA analysis; plant and crop bioinformatics; biological data resources; and systems biology and data management. The Heidelberg Center for Human Bioinformatics focused on areas such as exome analysis, genomics, transcriptomics, metagenomics, phenotyping, bioimaging, epigenetics, and cloud computing. The Bielefeld-Gießen Resource Center for Microbial Bioinformatics addressed microbial genomics, transcriptomics, metagenomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and related cloud services. BioInfra.Prot concentrated on proteomics and lipidomics, while the Center for Integrative Bioinformatics supported workflow systems spanning genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, imaging, and machine learning. The RNA Bioinformatics Center worked on transcriptome analysis, RNA structure, noncoding-RNA targets, transcript classification, and protein–RNA interactions. Plant-oriented work was coordinated through the German Crop BioGreenformatics Network, and the Center for Biological Data maintained database-oriented capabilities. The de.NBI Systems Biology Service Center covered systems biology and data management. In August 2016, Germany joined ELIXIR, the European life-sciences infrastructure for biological information. de.NBI partners operated the German ELIXIR node, linking national services to a broader European framework for interoperable data, tools, authentication, and training. The network also opened participation to associated partners. Service and Training Partners contributed both infrastructure or services and courses, while Training Partners contributed educational activities. This model enabled universities, research institutes, public agencies, and specialist organizations to participate without necessarily belonging to one of the core centers. The technical portfolio expanded around three principal resource types: databases, software tools, and hardware. Databases supported ribosomal RNA, earth-system data, microbial diversity, protein structures, and enzyme information. The network supplied approximately 100 tools to the German and international life-sciences community, with many resources registered in the ELIXIR Tools and Data Services Registry. The de.NBI cloud, initiated in 2016 through collaboration among universities including Bielefeld, Freiburg, Gießen, Heidelberg, and Tübingen, provided federated access to substantial computing and storage capacity through a central portal and ELIXIR-compatible authentication. Training became an equally important part of the network’s identity. The program offered in-person courses, online materials, tool workshops, hackathons, webinars, and annual summer schools. The first summer school, held in 2015, addressed workflows from genome assembly through genome and transcriptome analysis. Later schools covered proteomics and mass spectrometry, cloud computing, computational genomics, RNA biology, metabolomics, research-data management, and bio-data science. The network also supported BioByte, an outreach summer school for high-school students in 2019. Reported participation grew from 329 attendees in 17 face-to-face courses in 2015 to 1,586 attendees in 79 courses in 2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person activity was disrupted, but online formats allowed continued delivery; 2,128 participants were trained through 49 courses in 2021. Alfred Pühler served as the first project coordinator through 2021, while Andreas Tauch headed the German ELIXIR node. After the initial BMBF funding period ended in 2021, de.NBI was integrated into Forschungszentrum Jülich from 2022. This transition positioned the network for continued operation as part of Germany’s research-infrastructure landscape rather than as a time-limited standalone funding program.
- 2022
Integration into Forschungszentrum Jülich
[1]de.NBI activities were integrated into Forschungszentrum Jülich for continued operation.
- 2021
Initial funding period concludes
[1]The original BMBF-supported funding period covering 2015–2021 came to an end.
- 2019
Training program reaches 79 courses
[1]The network reported 79 training courses and 1,586 participants during 2019.
- 2016
Partner projects begin and Germany joins ELIXIR
[1]de.NBI partner projects started work, while Germany joined ELIXIR and de.NBI partners took responsibility for the German node.
- 2016
de.NBI cloud initiated
[1]A federated cloud system was developed through collaboration among participating German universities.
- 2015
de.NBI program launched
[1]The BMBF launched de.NBI, and the network began its first training activities, including its inaugural summer school.
- 2013
Initial BMBF funding announcement
[1]Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research announced funding guidelines for creating a national bioinformatics infrastructure.
Products and positioning
A public, distributed research infrastructure that provides open and coordinated bioinformatics services, computing resources, data resources, and training for life-science research in Germany and beyond.
Federated research computing · 2016
de.NBI Cloud
A distributed cloud environment for life-science computing, developed by several German universities and accessed through a central de.NBI portal. It uses single sign-on linked to the ELIXIR Authentication and Authorization Infrastructure. The cloud supports computational biology workflows and, as reported in November 2021, included more than 56,000 computing cores and 80 petabytes of storage.
Scientific data resources
Bioinformatics databases
de.NBI develops and maintains major data resources including SILVA for ribosomal RNA information, PANGAEA for georeferenced earth-system data, BacDive for bacterial and archaeal biodiversity, ProteinsPlus for protein-structure information, and BRENDA for enzyme data. Together these resources support comparative biology, microbiology, structural biology, and biochemical research.
Scientific software
Bioinformatics tools and workflows
The network supplies a broad portfolio of computational tools, including Galaxy and useGalaxy.eu, EDGAR, KNIME, OpenMS, SeqAN, PIA, Fiji, MetFrag, COPASI, SIAMCAT, e!DAL-PGP, MGX, ASA³P, and Bakta. These resources cover sequencing, genome annotation, mass-spectrometry analysis, imaging, workflow management, microbial-community analysis, and research-data publication.
Research education · 2015
Training and summer schools
de.NBI provides face-to-face and online courses, webinars, hackathons, tool-specific workshops, and annual summer schools. Topics have included genome and transcriptome analysis, proteomics, cloud computing, RNA biology, metabolomics, research-data management, and data science. The program is designed for students, researchers, and other life-science professionals.
Marketing campaigns
- 2019BioByte outreach summer school
Germany
de.NBI supported BioByte, an outreach summer school at the University of Halle intended to introduce high-school students to the breadth of bioinformatics.
- 2015de.NBI training program
Germany · Europe
A continuing education program combining courses, workshops, summer schools, and later online formats to improve researchers’ ability to use bioinformatics tools and infrastructure.
Outcome. The program expanded from 17 in-person courses and 329 participants in 2015 to a reported cumulative total of 9,076 scientists trained in 371 courses by January 2022.
Brand decisions
2022
Transfer de.NBI into Forschungszentrum JülichStrategyBackground
The original BMBF funding period covered 2015 through 2021, creating a need for an institutional framework for continued activities.
Action taken
de.NBI was integrated into Forschungszentrum Jülich.
Aftermath
The network’s infrastructure, services, and training mission continued within a major German research organization.
2016
Build a federated national cloudStrategyBackground
The network needed shared computing capacity for data-intensive life-science research while retaining a distributed institutional structure.
Action taken
de.NBI developed a federated cloud with participating universities and provided unified access through a central portal using ELIXIR-linked authentication.
Aftermath
The cloud became a central infrastructure component and was reported in 2021 to provide more than 56,000 computing cores and 80 petabytes of storage.
Sources2 sources
Cite this profile: Cite the canonical profile. /brand-wiki/german-network-for-bioinformatics-infrastructure · Editorial policy · How profiles are compiled