HARMONise – Enhancing the interoperability of marine biomolecular (meta)data across Helmholtz Centres

Bienhold, Christina¹ , Harms, L.¹ , Neuhaus, S.¹ , Bayer, T.² , Koppe, R.¹

Biomolecules, such as DNA and RNA, make up all ocean life, and biomolecular research in the marine realm is pursued across several Helmholtz Centres. Biomolecular (meta)data (i.e. DNA and RNA sequences and all steps involved in their creation) provide a wealth of information about the distribution and function of marine organisms. However, high-quality (meta)data management of biomolecular data is not yet well developed in environmentally focused Helmholtz Centres. This impedes every aspect of FAIR data exchange internally and externally, and the pursuit of scientific objectives that depend on this data. In this Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration project between the Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung and the GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel (with scientific PIs rooted in POFIV Topic 6), we will develop sustainable solutions and digital cultures to enable high-quality, standards-compliant curation and management of marine biomolecular metadata, to better embed biomolecular science in broader digital ecosystems and research domains. The approach will build on locally administered relational databases and establish a web-based hub to exchange metadata compliant with domain-specific standards, such as the MIxS (Minimum Information about any (x) Sequence). To interface with and enhance the Helmholtz digital ecosystem, we aim to link the operations and archiving workflows of our local databases with existing Helmholtz repositories (e.g. the PANGAEA World Data Center) and with systems currently under development (e.g. Sample Management, Marine Data Portal). This will be done through stable, synchronised, and persistent solutions for the export and exchange of (meta)data. By enabling sustainable data stewardship, as well as export and publishing routines, this will support biomolecular researchers in delivering Helmholtz biomolecular data to national European and global repositories in alignment with community standards. Throughout the project, we will establish and cultivate human communication channels, to ensure implementations do not drift apart. Furthermore, we will provide use cases to connect our data holdings with other global interoperability frameworks, such as UNESCO’s Ocean Data and Information System. Here we will present a conceptual outline and first steps taken on our road to practically enabling FAIR management of biomolecular (meta)data. The project HARMONise (ZT-I-PF-3-027) is funded by the Initiative and Networking Fund as part of the Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration Project cohort 2021.