"Digital strategies for CRBs: tools, challenges and future prospects"

 This theme for 2025 is based on several elements :

• CRBs must manage large amounts of data associated with the biological resources they preserve.
• Digital technology offers tools to better manage and analyse this data.
• Data visibility is essential to encourage the promotion, collaboration and sharing of resources.
• Regulatory aspects, such as ABS (Access and Benefit Sharing), require digital tools for effective management and traceability.
• CRBs must adapt to technological developments and new research practices, particularly in terms of data management.
• Research infrastructures such as RARe are working to assign DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) to their structures and datasets, highlighting the importance of digital management for greater recognition.

 Download : The programme, presentation summaries (French)

Speakers

Programme 

Theme 1 : Opportunities offered by Artificial Intelligence and Data Science (30/9 14h30-18h00)

Presentations illustrating the integration of AI in the field of biological sciences, which is resulting in concrete advances and new avenues of research. However, these advances also raise new scientific, ethical and societal challenges that must be understood and managed.

Chairman : Anne-Françoise Adam-Blondon

• Director of the Genomic-Info Resource Unit (URGI), INRAE. Deputy Director of IFB-Core, INRAE, CNRS, INSERM, CEA/Heads of Node ELIXIR-FR. Scientific Coordinator of BRC4Plants, the Plant pillar of the RARe Infrastructure.

2:30–3:00 p.m. Hervé Monod, Research Director, UR MaIAGE. Director of the DIGIT-BIO metaprogramme. INRAE Current developments in AI in INRAE research

3:00–3:30 p.m. Sharif Islam, Senior Data Architect, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
From Samples to Systems: Building transparent, AI-Ready infrastructures for biological resource access”

3:30–4:00 p.m. Lionel Da Cruz, Head of the Research and Access to Innovation Division, and Teddy Léguillier (Ministry of Health – DGOS) 
AI and biobanks

4:00 p.m. 30-minute coffee break

4:30-5:00 p.m. Stéphane Pouyllau, CNRS Co-founder of Human-Num Lab. Pr Evry-Saclay.
ISIDORE 2030: adapting an academic search engine to generative AI. (video conference)

5:00-5:30 p.m. David Makowski, Director of Research. Applied Mathematics and Computer Science Unit. INRAE-Paris-Saclay University.
AI tools for forecasting plant, animal, and human health: how to assess their reliability? (video conference)

5:30-6:00 p.m. Antoine Cornuejols, Professor of Computer Science at AgroParisTech. Member of the AgroParisTech/INRAE MIA-Paris Saclay joint research unit. Head of the Ekinocs team.
AI yesterday and today: what should we teach to use it wisely?

Theme 2 : Digital tools and uses (01/10 09h00-12h35) 

A series of presentations highlighting the complexity of the various stages and practical issues faced by CRBs in relation to the use of digital technology in biological resource management. 

Chairman : Valentin Loux

9:00-9:25 David Rousseau, University Professor, UMR INRAe IRHS
Artificial intelligence and Biological Resource Centres: towards a new era of data valorisation

9:25-9:50 Sandra Dérozier. Bioinformatics Research Engineer, INRAE Jouy-en-Josas, MaIAGE Unit. 
Omnicrobe, an open-access database of microbial habitats and phenotypes using a comprehensive text mining and data fusion approach

9:50-10:15 Christine Prat, Aix-Marseille University.
Consequences of the Cali decision (DSI) for BRC managers and users of genetic resources, in the context of public research and partnerships with private companies.

10:15-10:40 Aline Bouchard, co-head of URFIST Paris, library curator. 
Scopus AI, WOS Research Assistant, Elicit, Consensus...: challenges and limitations of AI for literature review (video conference)

10:40 30-minute coffee break

11:10-11:35 Anne-Françoise Adam-Blondon, Director of the Genomic-Info Resource Unit (URGI), INRAE. Deputy Director of IFB-Core, INRAE, CNRS, INSERM, CEA/Heads of Node ELIXIR-FR. Scientific Coordinator of BRC4Plants, the plant pillar of RARe.
BReIF and AgroDiv: success stories for data publication

11:35-12:10 Amélie Fiocca, Engineer and Project Manager for DipSO (Open Science Directorate) at INRAE.
PID ecosystem and upcoming recommendations.

12:10-12:35 Amélie Fiocca, Engineer and Project Manager for DipSO (Open Science Directorate) at INRAE.
Data warehouses and repository quality.

The seminar is fully booked for in-person attendance. To participate via videoconference, please contact contact.RARe@inrae.fr.