21-Jul-2026
New collaboration connects digital neuroscience and structural biology infrastructures across complementary biological scales
On 16 July 2026, the Instruct-ERIC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the European research infrastructure (RI) EBRAINS. This will establish a strategic collaboration to strengthen links between digital neuroscience and structural biology research infrastructures in Europe.
The partnership reflects the complementary missions of both organisations and their shared commitment to advancing integrated, multi-scale approaches to life science research through interoperable data, digital research services, modelling and scientific computing.
Instruct-ERIC is a pan-European distributed research infrastructure which acts as a single point of entry to high-end technologies and methods in structural biology across Europe. Instruct comprises 17 Member Countries and Organisations and is the leading European research infrastructure in structural biology.
EBRAINS is a European digital research infrastructure for brain research, offering neuroscientific data, digital tools, computing and AI technologies to analyse, model and simulate brain organisation across scales, from molecules and cells to whole-brain dynamics.
Together, through shared approaches, the two infrastructures aim to strengthen connections between structural biology, molecular simulation and digital neuroscience - supporting researchers working across complementary biological scales to obtain new scientific discoveries. This will enable new opportunities for integrated experimental and computational workflows.
The collaboration will focus on:
Prof. Harald Schwalbe, Director of Instruct-ERIC, states:
“The collaboration with EBRAINS creates important opportunities to connect our digital infrastructures through complementary technologies, data and computational methods. Together, we can help researchers address complex biomedical questions across multiple scales.’’
In a common statement, Prof. Katrin Amunts and Prof. Philippe Vernier, Joint CEOs of EBRAINS, comment:
“This partnership highlights the complementarity between structural biology and digital neuroscience infrastructures in Europe. Instruct and EBRAINS address different but interconnected levels of biological organisation. By bridging expertise, methods, data and services across these scales, we can support more integrated approaches to understanding brain function and disease while strengthening interoperable digital research infrastructures for the wider scientific community.’’
Beyond scientific collaboration, the agreement also reflects the shared interest of both infrastructures in strengthening exchanges on European research infrastructure policy, interoperability, open science and future strategic initiatives within the European Research Area.
