{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,13]],"date-time":"2026-10-13T12:48:39Z","timestamp":1791895719683,"version":"4.3.4"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.12688\/f1000research.153895.1","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]],"date-time":"2026-06-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781654400000}}],"reference-count":33,"publisher":"F1000 Research Ltd","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]],"date-time":"2026-06-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781654400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"EEA Grants\/Norway Grants","award":["2\/2022"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2\/2022"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["f1000research.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["F1000Res"],"abstract":"<ns3:p>We describe the evolution of a bioinformatics national capacity from scattered professionals into a collaborative organisation, and advancements in the adoption of the bioinformatics infrastructure philosophy by the national community. The Romanian Society of Bioinformatics (RSBI), a national professional society, was founded in 2019 to accelerate the development of Romanian bioinformatics. Incrementally, RSBI expanded its role to include: i) developing a community and engaging the public and stakeholders, ii) a national training approach, including through increased interactions with European training resources, and iii) advocating national participation in European bioinformatics infrastructures. In a next step RSBI led the development of the national bioinformatics infrastructure, the Romanian Bioinformatics Cluster (CRB) with the mission to act as an ELIXIR National Node. In this paper we report both the successful projects in training, public engagement, and policy projects, as well as initiatives related to data federation that, while not successful, can serve as valuable learning experiences for future implementations. We explain CRB\u2019s structure and the role such an entity can play in the national bioinformatics infrastructure for data, tools, and training. Finally, we offer insights into the evolving role of the bioinformatics professional society and the synergies and interactions with the forthcoming National ELIXIR Node<\/ns3:p>","DOI":"10.12688\/f1000research.153895.2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]],"date-time":"2026-06-17T07:34:06Z","timestamp":1781681646000},"page":"1002","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12688\/f1000research.crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["From the establishment of a national bioinformatics society to the development of a national bioinformatics infrastructure"],"prefix":"10.12688","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9733-292X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bogdan","family":"Mir\u0103u\u021b\u0103","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"T\u00e2rgu Mure\u0219 Romanian Bioinformatics Cluster"},{"name":"Cluj-Napoca Romanian Society of Bioinformatics"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"C\u0103t\u0103lina","family":"Zenoaga-Barb\u0103ro\u0219ie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"T\u00e2rgu Mure\u0219 Romanian Bioinformatics Cluster"},{"name":"Department of Genetics, Faculty of Biology Bucharest University of Bucharest"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Monica","family":"Abrudan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Genomic Pathogen Surveillance, Pandemic Sciences Institute Oxford England University of Oxford"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marius","family":"Mih\u0103\u0219an","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biology Department Ia\u0219i Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Ia\u0219i"},{"name":"Cluj-Napoca Romanian Society of Bioinformatics"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5007-7442","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"M\u0103d\u0103lina","family":"Giurgiu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Berlin Free University of Berlin"},{"name":"Department of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology Berlin Charit\u00e9 \u2013 Universit\u00e4tsmedizin Berlin"},{"name":"Cluj-Napoca Romanian Society of Bioinformatics"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daria","family":"Mihalachi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology and Geology Cluj-Napoca Babe\u0219-Bolyai University"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michalis-Daniel","family":"Laz\u0103r","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology and Geology Cluj-Napoca Babe\u0219-Bolyai University"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"name":"RSBI Members","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6563-3226","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Horia L.","family":"Banciu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology and Geology Cluj-Napoca Babe\u0219-Bolyai University"},{"name":"Cluj-Napoca Romanian Society of Bioinformatics"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"2560","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"baz136","DOI":"10.1093\/database\/baz136","article-title":"The COMPARE Data Hubs.","volume":"2019","author":"C Amid","year":"2019","journal-title":"Database J. 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Data."}],"container-title":["F1000Research"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/13-1002\/v2\/xml","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/13-1002\/v2\/pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/13-1002\/v2\/iparadigms","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,13]],"date-time":"2026-10-13T12:04:10Z","timestamp":1791893050000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/13-1002\/v2"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]]},"references-count":33,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12688\/f1000research.153895.2","relation":{"has-version":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.12688\/f1000research.153895.1","asserted-by":"subject"}],"has-review":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.5256\/f1000research.195294.r494496","asserted-by":"subject"},{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.5256\/f1000research.195294.r494496","asserted-by":"object"}]},"ISSN":["2046-1402"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2046-1402","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]]},"assertion":[{"value":"Indexed","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/13-1002\/v2#article-reports","order":0,"name":"referee-status","label":"Referee status","group":{"name":"current-referee-status","label":"Current Referee Status"}},{"value":"10.5256\/f1000research.168851.r321797, Francis Ouellette, Bioinformatics, Montreal, 25 Sep 2024, version 1, 3 approved with reservations","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/13-1002\/v1#referee-response-321797","order":0,"name":"referee-response-321797","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"<b>Bogdan Mirauta<\/b>; \n<i>Posted: 15 Jan 2026<\/i>; We thank the reviewers for their comments. We delayed submitting our responses in the expectation that the process of ELIXIR membership for Romania, one of the important outcomes documented in this article, would be finalized; however, the Romanian Parliament\u2019s decision required under Romanian law has taken longer than anticipated and is currently pending in February&nbsp; 2026.  While this extended the response timeline, it allowed us to address an important request from the reviewers. Following the reviewers\u2019 suggestions to address the bioinformatics resources in Romania, we have launched the initial version of the Catalogue of Romanian Bioinformatics Services (CaRiBioS; https:\/\/bioinfocluster.ro\/services\/carobios), in which the first resources have recently undergone peer review. This live, peer-reviewed registry will contribute to a reliable description of the bioinformatics portfolio and help identify the specific contributions of Romanian bioinformatics to ELIXIR.  In addition, we have clarified the scope of the paper by adding a dedicated paragraph at the end of the Introduction. While one objective of this article is to facilitate the establishment of the Romanian ELIXIR Node (CRB), we note that its main purpose is to document the historical activities of the professional organization Romanian Society of Bioinformatics (RSBI), providing a record that is important for understanding the community\u2019s longstanding engagement, guiding future initiatives, and informing policymakers and funders about the evolution of bioinformatics in Romania. Additionally, we clarified that the Romanian ELIXIR Node is forthcoming and has not yet been established.  \n<b>Comments 1.1, 1.2<\/b> We thank the reviewer for their positive feedback and for highlighting this need to clarify the purpose of the paper. To clarify the objectives of the paper, we have added a dedicated paragraph at the end of the Introduction. This paragraph outlines the rationale of the study and implicitly helps clarify the intended readership.&nbsp;  \n<b>Comments 1.3 <\/b>We thank the reviewer for raising the question of the specific biological questions and training needs of the community. Although we conducted surveys to identify training requirements, the results did not allow us to define precise domain-specific directions, as responses reflected a highly heterogeneous community, including groups working in human \u2019omics, plant and animal biology and microorganisms. Nevertheless, we identified several cross-cutting challenges shared across domains, particularly in data management and data access. Accordingly, we have included data stewardship as one of the priorities of the Romanian Cluster of Bioinformatics (CRB) and note that this is also a recognized priority across the wider ELIXIR community. We also point out that the newly launched framework CaRoBioS will result in the medium term in identifying priority areas for Romanian bioinformatics.  \n<b>Comments on figures&nbsp;<\/b> We thank the reviewer for the suggestion to simplify Figure 1. In response, we have revised the figure and included a new version with substantially reduced text to improve clarity and readability. We agree that much of the information shown in Figure 2A is also described in the text. However, we believe that this panel provides a concise visual representation of the chronology leading to potential ELIXIR membership, which facilitates improved understanding of the sustained, long-term commitment of the bioinformatics-dedicated community in Romania. While we acknowledge the reviewer\u2019s suggestion to present the information shown in Figure 2B in tabular form, we consider that the geographical map more intuitively conveys the national distribution and spatial coverage of CRB member institutions across Romania. We also agree that providing additional details about each institution would be valuable and will consider including these details in a prospective article focused on describing the aims, structure and potential impact of CRB article once the process of Romania\u2019s membership to ELIXIR is completed.","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/13-1002\/v2#referee-comment-15279","order":1,"name":"referee-comment-15279","label":"Referee Comment","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"10.5256\/f1000research.168851.r321795, Federico Zambelli, University of Milan, Milan, 30 Sep 2024, version 1, 3 approved with reservations","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/13-1002\/v1#referee-response-321795","order":2,"name":"referee-response-321795","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"<b>Bogdan Mirauta<\/b>; \n<i>Posted: 15 Jan 2026<\/i>; We thank the reviewer for their insightful comments and for recognizing the challenges faced in establishing a national bioinformatics infrastructure, including interactions with policymakers and decision-making bodies.  We delayed submitting our responses in the expectation that the process of ELIXIR membership for Romania, one of the important outcomes documented in this article, would be finalized; however, the Romanian Parliament\u2019s decision required under Romanian law has taken longer than anticipated and is currently pending in February 2026.  While this extended the response timeline, it allowed us to address an important request from the reviewers. Following the reviewer's suggestion to address the portfolio of bioinformatics resources in Romania, we have launched the initial version of the Catalogue of Romanian Bioinformatics Services (CaRiBioS; https:\/\/bioinfocluster.ro\/services\/carobios), in which the first resources have recently undergone peer review. This live, peer-reviewed registry will contribute to a reliable description of the bioinformatics portfolio and help identify the specific contributions of Romanian bioinformatics to ELIXIR. We note that, although rigorously developed, the catalogue is still in its early stages, with the first evaluated resources added in December 2025, and therefore it does not yet provide an exhaustive list of Romanian bioinformatics resources. We have added a paragraph describing CaRoBioS in the manuscript.","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/13-1002\/v2#referee-comment-15280","order":3,"name":"referee-comment-15280","label":"Referee Comment","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"10.5256\/f1000research.195294.r494496, Carol Goble, The University of Manchester, Manchester, England, 09 Jul 2026, version 2, indexed","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/13-1002\/v2#referee-response-494496","order":4,"name":"referee-response-494496","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"The workshops organised by RSBI between 2022 and 2024 were partially funded through the Bioinformatics Capacity Building Human Genomics project, a bilateral project organised by the Romanian Society of Bioinformatics in collaboration with ELIXIR Norway, funded through the Bilateral Fund associated with the EEA and Norwegian Grants 2014-2021, and administered by UEFISCDI, as Research Program Operator in Romania (Grant 2\/2022). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.","order":5,"name":"grant-information","label":"Grant Information"},{"value":"This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.","order":0,"name":"copyright-info","label":"Copyright"}]}}