Editorial by Jacques Remacle

Jacques Remacle

The network of excellence (NoE) is a very useful instrument for supporting basic research in specific areas of fundamental genomics that demand a higher level of integration at the European level to catalyse research progress.

The NoE, with its flexible and dynamic structure, can gather together expertise in different fields around a common programme of activities with the goal to tackle challenging biological questions, to promote training, to exchange ideas and materials, to set up common quality standards, to share common facilities and to disseminate major research discoveries to a wider public audience. In contrast to the integrated projects, which are clearly oriented towards research deliverables, the main goal of the NoE is to structure the European research community in a given scientific area, thereby facilitating the achievement of ambitious research objectives (solving big questions), and to increase the visibility of a the research theme.

The Epigenome project illustrates very well all the facets of a NoE. This network integrates around a common programme of activities 25 groups with wide-ranging expertise in different model organisms to tackle key questions in epigenetic research. It provides the scientific community with a large spectrum of resources (tested protocols and reagents, databases, training) and it disseminates scientific knowledge to scientists, students, and the wider public, thereby creating a real epigenetic research community in Europe.

The Biosapiens NoE also encapsulates the most important aspects of a NoE by coordinating and focussing excellent research in bioinformatics by the creation of a Virtual Institute for Genome Annotation, and by establishing a permanent European School of Bioinformatics with the goal to train the new generation of bioinformaticians.

A key feature the NoE instrument is certainly its flexibility. The joint programme of activities can be modified every year to take into account newly emerging needs of the research field. In addition, the NoE consortium can also evolve over time to meet new research challenges and/or to promote openness, expansion and durability. For the Epigenome NoE, 25 % of its budget is dedicated to integrating 22 young investigators with their recently established independent research groups, for whom access to European funding can be difficult. A selection of the first 12 young investigators (Newly Established Team - NET) was recently made following an open call published in Nature (57 applications) and a transparent selection process involving high level external experts in the field and supervised by the EU Commission. The quality and dynamism of these young investigators and their research teams are very high and will certainly contribute to the success and durability of the Epigenome NoE project.

Jacques Remacle’s work as a Scientific Officer at the European Commission involves the organisation of peer-review evaluations and follow-up of research projects that develop and apply functional genomics tools to the study of basic biological processes. His portfolio of projects includes the Network of Excellence “The Epigenome”. Jacques also works in developing policies for European collaborative basic research.