Introducing the Euro-BioImaging’s 2020 Annual Report

We are very pleased to share our first Annual Report with the community! Browse through it - and discover the story of Euro-BioImaging – the Hub team, our Nodes, our users, our governing bodies and our achievements – in our first year of operations as an ERIC. This report provides snippets, highlights, and a sense for the amazing progress that was made within our community in 2020 - despite the global pandemic. As such, it is a tribute to the remarkable resilience, energy and passion for imaging of the Euro-BioImaging community.

We hope you will take the time to read through this document. For your reading enjoyment, we’ve created an interactive PDF, accessible below. You can also view and download the document as a PDF here.

Synopsis of the Euro-BioImaging Annual Report:

The story begins with the "Introduction"a portrait of Euro-BioImaging, the European Research Infrastructure for biological and biomedical imaging, and specifically with Editorials from the Chairman of our Board and Co-chairs of our Scientific Advisory Board, who set the stage for our research infrastructure. Then, we present our footprint across Europe and provide a series of photos to illustrate our mission. We explain the User Access procedure, by which imaging technologies, expertise and services are provided to researchers, regardless of their affiliation or research area. This section also includes a 2020 Highlights calendar and portraits of our Hub Team.

In the "2020 Milestones" section, prefaced by an Editorial from the Euro-BioImaging directors, we look back on some of the key activities that mobilized our Hub team and governing bodies. Expanding our infrastructure was one of the main accomplishments of the year. We also expanded our technology offer in 2020, via showcasing and proof-of-concept studies. And last but not least, 2020 was dedicated to the building of our governance.

Next, we explore our "Core Services", including Imaging technologies, Training and Data Management. These core services are key to advancing research across Europe.

Euro-BioImaging really enjoys interacting with the imaging community. These important interactions are alluded to in the "Community Activities" section of the Annual Report, which includes an Editorial from representatives of the Euro-BioImaging Industry Board. From European projects, collaboration with other research infrastructures, to the Virtual Pub, community building was a priority for us in 2020 and will continue to be so in the years to come.

In the "Excellent Science" section of our Annual Report, which features an Introduction from our Director General, John Eriksson, we share just a few examples of work accomplished at our Nodes to shed light on SARS-COV-2, Cancer, Neurology, Cardiovascular, Marine Biology and Plant biology.

In the "From our Nodes" section, we provide a glimpse of some of the adaptations our Nodes made in response to the global pandemic. In this section we hear testimonies from Node staff, but also users, and learn how 2020 changed the way service provision, fostering new opportunities. In addition, this section includes a short report from each of our Nodes, with highlights from 2020 and an overview of size and scope of each Node.

Many thanks to those who contributed to the conceptualization of this document, to writing it and proofreading it. A huge thanks to our designer, whose brilliant design work really made our story come to life. And many thanks to all of those who contributed from the Nodes, the Board, the Scientific Advisory Board, the Industry Board and beyond. What an exciting first year of operations – what a great team effort!