MiCoDa and Datathons: Fostering Equitability in Sequence Data Reuse

Описание: In this BiodiversiTea session Stephanie Jurburg from the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ) talks about the Microbial Community Database (MiCoDa) and community activation through Datathons.

The reuse of microbial metabarcoding data is limited by inconsistent metadata, fragmented archiving practices, and difficulties associated with sequence data processing. To address this, the Microbial Community Database (MiCoDa) and the Datathon project work in concert to foster a culture of open, harmonized, and community-driven data sharing in microbial ecology.
MiCoDa currently houses over 35,000 globally distributed, reprocessed 16S rRNA samples—standardized for comparability and linked to their source publications, and is the largest curated microbiome database in the world. Datathons—launched in 2022—are regional, three-day events that train researchers in standardized metadata practices, support the archiving of amplicon sequencing data, and catalyze collaborative reuse. These events have engaged over 600 researchers across Latin America and Africa, and upcoming editions are planned for China (2025) and the Polar regions (2026).

Together, Datathons and MiCoDa form a pipeline from local data mobilization to global data integration, with a focus on underrepresented regions. This integrated approach enhances the visibility, accessibility, and usability of microbial data, while promoting equitable participation in global microbiome research. Researchers are invited to contribute data, join upcoming Datathons, and explore MiCoDa as a powerful tool for microbial community analyses. The database serves as the long-term home for many of the datasets curated through Datathons. 
This talk will give insights in the MiCoDa database and how the datahthons work as a method for community activation.

Further information:
Jurburg, Stephanie D. et al. (2024) Datathons: fostering equitability in data reuse in ecology. Trends in Microbiology, Volume 32, Issue 5, 415 - 418 https://www.cell.com/trends/microbiol...

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