HMC FAIR Friday: "HMC Project HARMONise – Toward FAIR biomolecular (meta)data" with Christina Bienhold

Friday 5 Dec 2025, 10:00 → 11:00 Europe/Berlin

Join our next HMC FAIR Friday seminar event with Christina Bienhold from Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology Bremen! 

The lecture will take place on 5th December 2025,10-11 am CET in Zoom. 
Registration is open until 05.12.2025 09:45 am CET. 
(For organizational reasons, we cannot guarantee participation in the event for registrations later than 09:45) 

Abstract: 

Biomolecules, such as DNA and RNA, provide a wealth of information about the distribution and function of marine organisms. Biomolecular (meta)data, i.e. DNA and RNA sequences and all steps involved in their creation, exhibit great internal diversity and complexity. A lack of harmonized metadata documentation leads to a lack of interoperability and prevents the efficient exploitation of available datasets, as well as FAIR data exchange internally and externally.

The HMC project HARMONise (Enhancing interoperability of marine biomolecular (meta)data across Helmholtz Centers) leveraged the existing MIxS standard (Minimum Information about any (x) sequence) introduced by the Genomics Standards Consortium to develop an advanced metadata schema from sample to sequence to enable high-quality and standards-compliant curation and management of marine biomolecular metadata. The schema’s modular structure ensures flexibility and allows for local adaptations, promoting fitness-for-purpose according to each Center’s or group’s research mission, as well as harmonization with other Helmholtz repositories, such as the World Data Center PANGAEA.

In this talk, I will introduce the HARMONise metadata schema and the corresponding web-portal for metadata import, export and harvest, which facilitates sustainable metadata stewardship and supports researchers in adopting digital cultures and delivering high-quality metadata to national and global repositories. It enables the standardized export and exchange of metadata among researches and with national data portals, e.g. the AWI O2A Portal and the Marine Data Portal, enhancing the findability and accessibility of biomolecular (meta)data within and across research areas. A provision of HARMONise-hosted metadata in relevant exchange formats can further enhance interoperability with Helmholtz and global digital ecosystems in the future.

Background Information:
The Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration (HMC) invites you to engage in an exciting series of talks on FAIR Data through the HMC FAIR Friday lecture series. Renowned experts from around the world will present key aspects of FAIR data, offering deep dives into the topic and sparking discussions on best practices and new perspectives. HMC FAIR Friday is aimed at professionals in research data management as well as researchers from all disciplines of the Helmholtz Association and beyond, who want to learn more about the importance and implementation of FAIR principles.