University of Warwick joins ELIXIR-UK to strengthen UK bioinformatics support

Earlier this year, the University of Warwick became a member of ELIXIR-UK, the UK Node of the European life sciences data infrastructure. Warwick brings its strong expertise in bioinformatics, digital health and computational biology to support researchers across the UK and beyond.

Warwick’s Bioinformatics & Digital Health Services (BDHS) has grown over the past five years into a team of eight staff, connecting 137 research groups across ten Warwick departments. The unit offers a range of training, from R and Python programming to high-throughput sequencing data analysis, with more than 700 students gaining programming skills through their courses.

A key initiative is the “Bioinformatics Clinic,” a weekly drop-in session for students and researchers to receive guidance on bioinformatics challenges. 

“We see these clinics as a way to transfer knowledge, resolve problems on the spot, and build confidence in researchers new to computational methods.”

Prof Sascha Ott, Director of the Bioinformatics & Digital Health Services Research Technology Platform

Warwick also contributes to international resources, such as EnteroBase, a computational tool used by national public health laboratories worldwide to track food-borne pathogen outbreaks. Locally, the university’s Tissue Image Analytics Centre and Computing and Advanced Microscopy Development Unit (CAMDU) provide cutting-edge imaging and histopathology support. 

ELIXIR-UK already had strong links with the University via Laura Cooper, part of CAMDU, who contributed to courses and tutorials as an ELIXIR-UK Fellow.

“By joining ELIXIR-UK, we hope to explore ways to scale our bioinformatics helpdesk model across the UK, supporting institutions without strong local support units. We are excited to share our training expertise and computational resources to benefit the wider research community.”

Richard Stark, Bioinformatics Manager

The University of Warwick was already introduced at the 2025 ELIXIR-UK All Hands, with a presentation from Richard Stark, as the newest member joining the community, expanding the list of members to 29.