Expert groups

Coordinator: Beatriz Serrano-Solano, beatriz.serrano.solano@eurobioimaging.eu

Status: Active, monthly meetings open to all

Although there are tools and workflows available for analyzing image data, they are scattered across different research fields and locations. The goal of this Expert Group is to encourage collaboration among people who are interested in improving the usability and accessibility of image data workflows, regardless of their scientific or technical background.

We meet up once a month, giving us a chance to connect, share ideas, and work together on making image data workflows more FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable).

Coordinator: Ayoub El Ghadraoui, ayoub.elghadraoui@eurobioimaging.eu

Chairs of the Expert Group: Nicola D'Ascenzo and Marc van Zandvoort

Status: Active, monthly meetings, open to all

The Plant Imaging Expert Group is an open platform that brings together scientists and researchers interested in plant imaging from Euro-BioImaging Nodes, external institutions, and beyond. The aim of the group is to bring together the experts in this rapidly developing field, learn about new projects and scientific trends and explore the wide variety of plant imaging technologies and applications available within Euro-BioImaging and beyond, and to foster collaboration and exchange.

We meet monthly for engaging presentations on cutting-edge research and technology developments, followed by open discussions that encourage participation and idea exchange.

Anyone interested is welcome to join the group.

Coordinator: Ayoub El Ghadraoui, ayoub.elghadraoui@eurobioimaging.eu

Status: Relaunching with adjusted focus and new seminar series in September 2025, open to all

Started in October 2020, the Expert Group initially focused on Remote Access and Training, by bring together facility staff to exchange experiences and solutions, collect resources, and identify common roadblocks in the provision of remote access and remote training. The group also centrally supported Euro-BioImaging's involvement in the eRImote project.

In 2025, the group has relaunched with a new focus on "Sustainability and Remote Access" and will focus on sharing solutions, recommendations, and experiences on provision of remote access as well as implementation of sustainability measures in imaging facilities.

Anyone interested is welcome to join the group.

Coordinator: Aastha Mathur, aastha.mathur@eurobioimaging.eu

Status: Active, monthly meetings open to Node staff, invited experts and Euro-BioImaging Industry Board members

The purpose of this group is to provide a forum for our image data experts to discuss challenges they face in provision of Image Data Analysis as a service, and to exchange experience within our very open and active community. The topics to be covered in these gatherings will be chosen based on general interest, and will cover the challenges in provision of Image Data Analysis as a service.

Coordinator: Johanna Bischof, johanna.bischof@eurobioimaging.eu

Status: Active, monthly meetings, open to Nodes, invited experts, and Euro-BioImaging Industry Board members

The Electron Microscopy Technology Expert Group is a forum for the facility staff of the Euro-BioImaging Nodes offering EM services and some external experts to get to know each other and the different facilities service offer and exchange on different technology aspects, from sample preparation and instrument maintenance to facility business models and working with users. This increased connection between the participating facilities builds the basis for future collaborations as well as allowing facilities to send users to those facilities best equipped to address a certain scientific question. At the same time, the group has worked on improving the representation of the different electron microscopy techniques offered by Euro-BioImaging on our website to increase the visibility of this rapidly expanding part of the technology portfolio to the users.

Coordinator: Claudia Pfander, claudia.pfander@eurobioimaging.eu

Status: Active, monthly meetings, open to Nodes, invited experts, Euro-BioImaging Industry Board members

A Working Group has been set up after the successful 2022 Euro-BioImaging/ Industry Board workshop to discuss and work on standard specifications, functionalities and workflows for Adaptive Feedback or ‘Smart’ Microscopy. The group with academic and industry participants meets regularly to facilitate the development and uptake of applications in this emerging feed and is interested to engage with the imaging community for feedback and use cases.

Coordinator: Marianna Childress-Poli, marianna.poli@eurobioimaging.eu

Status: Active, monthly meetings, open to Node staff only

The objective of the Communications Expert Group is to multiply the collaboration and connections between Nodes & Hub in order to increase the visibility of our research infrastructure as a whole. The first step is to get to know each other better through regular meetings and exchange of experience. Progressively, we will work together across communication channels, share our stories and activities, and promote Euro-BioImaging to our users and beyond.

Coordinators: Alessandra Viale & Michal Mikal,
alessandra.viale@eurobioimaging.eu ; michal.mikl@ceitec.muni.cz

Status: Meetings on demand, open to Node staff only

A new expert group dedicated to exchanging experiences and best practices when dealing with human imaging across the Euro-BioImaging facilities has been created. The aim of the group is to discuss the most typical difficulties that are encountered in clinical studies, e.g. international user access limitations, ethical and legal implications, protocol harmonisation across Europe, data formats, management and sharing.

The group is currently mainly focussed on human MRI, but as many issues related with management of human subjects and human image data are common to other technologies, Nodes’ staff working with other technologies are also welcome.

If you are interested in joining this group, please contact either Alessandra Viale from the Euro-BioImaging Med-Hub, or Michal Mikl from the Multimodal Imaging Node Brno.

Coordinator: Dario Longo, preclinicaldata@eurobioimaging.eu

Status: Meetings on demand, open to Node staff only

This group is specifically dedicated to the preclinical and medical imaging facilities staff. Preclinical image data management is currently quite a hard task, as it suffers from the lack of standard tools to store, process, and share large amounts of imaging data produced by scientists using many different technologies from different providers, on different types of subjects in studies involving multiple acquisitions on various subject groups. In addition, data security and ethical issues must also be considered when dealing with medical image data.

Furthermore, data sharing and usability is hampered by the great heterogeneity in data management systems adopted by the biomedical imaging facilities. The data management working group has been created to tackle these issues. Members share expertise and tools for curating and archiving preclinical and medical image data, and seek for common platforms to facilitate data sharing.

Coordinator: Johanna Bischof, johanna.bischof@eurobioimaging.eu

Status: On demand meetings on LM technology portfolio questions, open to Node staff only

The Light Microscopy Technology Expert Group was formed as a forum for the Euro-BioImaging Node community to advance the presentation and categorization of the wide range of light microscopy techniques included in the Euro-BioImaging technology portfolio. The development of this categorization (ontology) and the technology descriptions are key to allow users to find the best technology for their project in the portfolio. At the same time, this Expert Groups offers the Node facility staff the opportunity to learn about the technology offer across the Nodes. It also serves as an important tool for monitoring the latest developments in the light microscopy technologies and for keeping the Euro-BioImaging service offer cutting-edge.

Coordinator: Susanne Vainio, susanne.vainio@eurobioimaging.eu

Status: Currently on pause, relaunch planned for 2026, open to Nodes and invited experts

Ethical conduct of research is one of the core values of Euro-BioImaging. The Expert Ethics Group aims to examine global themes that are critical to our research community, and provide proactive and practical solutions or guidance. Through this initiative, we will find common ground, learn from each other, and expand knowledge in the field.